The Wildebrams Season Six
by WildeAbrams
Summary: The following "fix-fic" is my version of the Glee Season Six that we should have gotten. This means Wildebrans (Kartie) endgame as well as some other changes and additions, but also following the show itself. Like Bitterness this series has absolutely nothing to do with any of my other stories. (Formerly: "Wilde Abrams Season 6 One Shots") [ REVISED TEXT: for Ch. 1-6 Oct. 2015 ]
1. An Unexpected Reunion (6x02- Homecoming)

The Wildebrams Season 6  
By: WildeAbams

Original Author's Notes (February 2015): So, after writing The Bitterness of Being Left Behind, I told myself that I was not going to write anything else Season Six related until the season was over or nearly over. But I'm sitting here trying to write Wedding Song, and my mind keeps going back to The Hurt Locker, Part Two. I've watched it four times now and it keeps going around in my head and my mind also drifts back to Homecoming and Kitty's brief but memorable appearance. These episodes are so good for Kitty! No matter what I do I keep having these thoughts show up in my head for scenes that should have happened, and so I finally decided to let them out and let my readers read them. These probably won't be as polished as you're used to from me, but I think that at least some of you will still like them.

Like Bitterness, this series has absolutely nothing to do with any of my other stories, and depending on what happens, each chapter may or may not have to do with the previous one. I'm anticipating these to be short stories with only a few scenes, but who knows what might happen if I get really inspired.

It goes without saying that these will spoil the episodes for those who haven't seen them yet, so just be aware of that.

UPDATE: September 2015 - WildeAbrams Season Six One Shots is now simply Wildebrams Season Six. Instead of a collection of related but not one shots, everything is being written unto one cohesive continuing story.

Toward that end, chapters 1-6 have been updated with minor text revisions and a new formating. Chapter 1 has received a significant rewrite, but in the others I just fixed typos, rewrote a few awkward bits, and added a couple small bits. There are also a few more short scenes so those who read it before should probably read it from the beginning again, but it's not required.

My original promise still stands: Wildebrams are ENDGAME! I don't care what RIB, Jenna, and Kevin wanted. While this is a Wildebrams story, I'm also going to be fixing a few of the other more glaring mistakes that I think they made in Dreams Come True.

Okay enough of my rambling, read on!

# # # # # # #

The Wildebrams Season Six  
Chapter 1: An Unexpected Reunion (Homecoming)  
By: Wilde Abrams

== October 2014

When Rachel Berry had decided to go over the head of Principal Sylvester to the Superintendent of the Lima Public Schools and get permission to relaunch the glee club at William McKinley High School, she knew that she could count on the support of her fellow alumni. She got on the phone and two days later the cavalry arrived en-masse.  
Mercedes, Puck, Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Artie, and Tina arrived together to support Kurt and her in their quest; and Sam, who was now working as Coach Bieste's assistant football coach had also pledged his support.

== Monday Afternoon, WMHS Hallway, Lima Ohio

McKinley was in the midst of their annual Homecoming Week, and the alumni wandered the campus absorbing the nostalgia.

Artie, Tina, Puck, and Quinn were walking down the hall when they saw the choir room and walked inside. After Sue had cancelled Glee Club, their former home at the school that had been converted into a computer lab, but over the past few days it had begun the transition back into something that they recognized. Most of the original furniture had returned, but the decorations that made it seem like home were still missing.

Puck glanced down at Artie and noticed that he seemed to have something on his mind. He'd seen him glancing around the halls ever since they had gotten there. It was as if he were looking for something or someone.

"What's up, bro? You seem kind of... distracted," he finally asked.

"Sorry, I've just been nostalgic lately," Artie told him. "I can't believe that the superintendent is letting Rachel relaunch the glee club and that we're all back here to help her out. It doesn't seem like a year and a half since I was last here."

Then after a moment, he added, "I wonder if we are going to be able to convince Marley, Ryder, Jake, Kitty and Unique to re-join the new New Directions."

"Dude," Puck said, "you didn't hear? Sue forced all the old glee club newbies to transfer out after she cancelled the glee club, because she wanted to make absolutely sure that the club would never make a comeback."

"What?" Artie asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Puck confirmed. "Jake told me about it. One by one she came up with excuses to force them all to transfer out."

Artie sat there in disbelief. He had to admit that he was apprehensive about seeing his former girlfriend Kitty again; but he also had high hopes of convincing her to re-join the glee club because he knew how much it meant to her when they were in school together. And that maybe - just maybe - there was a chance for some form of reconciliation between them. None of the women he had dated in college had developed into anything significant. Unfortunately that didn't look to be happening, so now he sat there with his arms crossed, dejected.

# # # # #

She did a double take when she saw them. Were her eyes deceiving her? It had been a year and a half since she had last seen them, and she had thought that she would never see them again, at least not here, not now. What were they up to? They had all taken off to pursue their own (selfish) dreams without a second thought. But now they were back and she was filled with nothing but anger and bitterness.

== Late Tuesday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

The alumni, Rachel and Kurt were all sitting in the choir room listening to Rachel thank them for coming. As Rachel droned on, Artie sat in his usual spot in the front row practicing for his storyboard class. Kurt and Rachel stood up front trying to explain how grave the situation was and that they were in crisis mode.

Suddenly Quinn, who was sitting behind Artie looked over his shoulder and asked him if he was drawing her and he joked, "Nope, just your boobs." It was only partly true as he really was drawing Quinn, but at that moment he was specifically drawing her boobs. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

Rachel reminded them all of how important the club was to all of them. They were asking all of them to donate whatever free time they could spare to recruit members and mentor them based upon each of their strengths.

Kurt said that they needed to give the McKinley students a little taste of what they had been missing. He reached over and turned a knob on an old fashioned boom box and the sound of an opening drum solo began to play...

== Tuesday during Lunch Period, WMHS Cafeteria &amp; Hallways

The alumni performed "Take On a Me" by Ah Ha running around in the cafeteria and in neon 80's vintage clothing, including some t-shirts and shorts recycled from when glee club did "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" during guilty pleasures week, almost two years before.

[Alumni]  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da

Artie had the giant boom box on his lap, and Sam and Puck carried around a large framed mirror. The whole thing was reminiscent of the original decades old music video.

[ Rachel ]  
Talking away  
I don't know what I'm to say, I'll

[ Mercedes ]  
Say it anyway  
Today isn't my day to find you

[ Santana ]  
Shying away

[ Santana with Brittany ]  
I'll be coming for your love, okay

[ Puck (Alumni) ]  
Take on me (Take on me)

[ Sam (Alumni) ]  
Take me on (Take on me)

[ Artie ]  
I'll be gone

[ Kurt ]  
In a day or two

[ Tina (with Sam) ]  
So (needless to say)  
Of odds and ends  
But I'll be (stumbling away)

[ Quinn ]  
Slowly learning that life is okay

[ Artie with Quinn ]  
Say after me  
It's no better to be safe than sorry

[ Puck with Quinn and Alumni (Alumni) ]  
Take on me (Take on me)

[ Sam with Mercedes and Alumni (Alumni) ]  
Take me on (Take on me)

[ Santana with Artie and Alumni ]  
I'll be gone

[ Kurt with Rachel ]  
In a day or two

Initially most of the students seemed indifferent to the spectacle that was going on in their midst.

[ Alumni ]  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da  
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da

As the song progressed, some of the students did seem to be getting into it, getting up and dancing with various alumni members.

[ Artie (with Mercedes) ]  
Oh, things that you say, yeah  
Is it a life or (just to play my worries away)

[ Sam ]  
You're all the things I've got to remember

[ Rachel with Sam ]  
You're shying away

[ Rachel with Artie and Sam ]  
I'll be coming for you anyway

[ Puck with Quinn and Alumni (Alumni) ]  
Take on me (Take on me)

[ Mercedes and Sam with Alumni (Alumni) ]  
Take me on (Take on me)

[ Tina with Artie and Alumni ]  
I'll be gone

[ Rachel ]  
In a

[ Puck with Quinn and Alumni (Alumni) ]  
Take on me (Mercedes and Rachel: Day) (Mercedes: Yeah, yeah) (Take on me)

[ Sam with Alumni (Alumni) ]  
Take me on (Mercedes: Oh, take me on) (Take on me)

[ Santana with Artie and Alumni (Mercedes) ]  
I'll (I'll)  
Be (Be)  
Gone (Gone)

[ Rachel (with Alumni) ]  
In a (day)

When they were done they looked around and saw that the students had scattered and no one was particularly interested in what they had been doing.

# # # # #

She watched the whole thing from a distance. How dare they think that they could have free reign of her school to recurve members for their stupid club! She would not stand for this!

== Wednesday Afternoon, WMHS Football Field

Quinn, Santana, and Brittany, along with Artie walked past the bleachers onto the football field. The Unholy Trinity were dressed in brand new Cheerios Alumni uniforms, and Artie was wearing his old letterman jacket. They were going to recruit from amongst the jocks because any successful glee club needed good dancers in addition to singers and they thought that they could appeal to them as kindred spirits.

"Okay," Quinn reminded them, "just remember: sex sells."

"That's true," Brittany added, "that's how Lady Tubbington got Lord Tubbington caught up in a Ponzi scheme."

The three of them marched out on the field, along with Artie. They signalled the matching band, who they had recruited the day before, and Ariana Grande's "Problem" began to play and the four of them began to dance and sing.

[ Santana ]  
Hahaha, uh-huh  
It's Iggy Iggs  
I got one more problem with you girl

[ The Cheerios (Santana) ]  
I got one less, one less problem (Ey)

[ Quinn ]  
Hey, baby, even though I hate ya  
I wanna love ya

[ The Cheerios ]  
I want you

[ Quinn ]  
And even though I can't forgive ya  
I really wanna  
The Cheerios:  
I want you

[ Brittany ]  
Tell me, tell me baby  
Why can't you leave me?  
Cause even though I shouldn't want it  
I gotta have it

[ The Cheerios ]  
I want you

[ Santana ]  
Head in the clouds, got no weight on my shoulders  
I should be wiser and realize that I've got

[ Artie - rapping ]  
One less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you

[ Santana with the Cheerios ]  
I got one less, one less problem

[ Artie - rapping ]  
One less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you

[ Santana with the Cheerios ]  
I got one less, one less problem

[ Brittany ]  
I know you're never gonna wake up  
I gotta give up

[ The Cheerios ]  
But it's you

[ Brittany ]  
I know I shouldn't ever call back  
Or let you come back  
[ The Cheerios ]  
But I do

[ Santana with Brittany ]  
Every time you touch me  
And say you love me

[ Quinn ]  
I get a little bit breathless

[ Santana with Brittany ]  
I shouldn't want it

[ The Cheerios ]  
But I do

[ Santana with Brittany and Quinn ]  
Head in the clouds  
Got no weight on my shoulders  
I should be wiser and realize that I've got

[ Artie - rapping ]  
One less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you

[ Santana with the Cheerios ]  
I got one less, one less problem

They marched around and encouraged the football players and cheerleaders to join in. Part way through the song a group of Cheerios did finally join in with singing the popular song.

[ Artie (Santana) ]  
One less problem without you  
I got one less problem without you (Ooh, babe)  
I got one less problem without you (Ooh, babe)

[ The Cheerios ]  
I got one less, one less problem

[ Artie ]  
It's Iggy Iggs  
Uh, what you got?

As the song progressed the students got more and more into the act, singing and dancing along with the alumni. The Cheerleaders danced along, did flips, tosses, and other moves.

[ Santana - rapping ]  
Smart money bettin' I'll be better off without you  
In no time I'll be forgettin' all about you  
You saying that you know but I really, really doubt you  
Understand my life is easy when I ain't around you  
Iggy, Iggy to biggie to be here stressin'  
I'm thinkin' I love the thought of you more than I love your presence  
And the best thing now is probably for you to exit  
I let you go, let you back, I finally learned my lesson  
No half-stepping, either you want it or you just playin'  
I'm listening to you knowin' I can't believe what you're sayin'  
There's a million you's, baby boo, so don't be dumb  
I got 99 problems but you won't be one  
Like what

[ Santana (The Cheerios) ]  
Ooh (One less, one less problem)  
Ooh (One less, one less problem)  
Head in the clouds, got no weight on my shoulders (One less, one less problem)

[ Santana with Brittany and Quinn ]  
I should be wiser and realize that I've got

[ Artie - rapping ]  
One less problem without you (Brittany: Hey)  
I got one less problem without you (Santana: Oh, babe)  
I got one less problem without you (Quinn: Hoo)

[ The Cheerios (Santana) ]  
I got one less, one less problem (Hooh, baby)  
As the song progressed more and more people got into the act.

[ Artie - rapping (Santana) ]  
One less problem without you (Brittany: Yeah, yeah)  
I got one less problem without you (Hooh, hey)  
I got one less problem without you

[ Santana with The Cheerios (Santana) ]  
I got one less, one less problem (Oooh)

[ Artie (with Brittany) ]  
One less problem without you (Santana: Hey)  
I got one less problem (without you) (Brittany: Uh) (Santana: I got one less, one less, yeah)  
I got one less problem without you  
[ The Cheerios (with Santana) ]  
I got one less, one less (problem, yeah)

Artie applauded and whooped as the song ended.

"You guys got some great moves," Artie told the cheerleaders. "We could really use some of that in the glee club."

"Yeah, you could," a familiar voice said.

They all turned their heads and saw none other than Kitty Wilde emerge from the crowd of cheerleaders.

"Oh, hi, Artie," she said in a condescending tone.

"Kitty, wh-where have you been?" He stammered. "I thought Sue made all the New Directions transfer out of McKinley." Then after a moment he added, "We need you back."

What he meant to say was 'I want you back.'

"You really think I'm gonna come back and help you and your stupid glee club after the way you treated all of us?" She told him. Her eyes met his. "The way you treated me when you went away to college?"

Ouch.

He bowed his head in shame. She was still upset about the break-up, which he knew he should have handled better. But he was moving five hundred and eighty nine miles away, and it would not have been fair to either of them to delay the inevitable break-up any longer. Long distance relationships just didn't seem to work for former glee club members.

He looked back up as she continued.

"Sue didn't make me transfer because she's smart enough to recognize a star player when she sees one."

"Unlike Rachel Berry," she added, glancing at the other three, "who never even knew any of our names."

"I know your name," Brittany scoffed. "It's Quinn."

Artie turned his head and give Brittany the 'really' look. The two of them had been in glee and Cheerios together for almost a whole school year.

"I'm Quinn!" Quinn scoffed.

"Liar," Brittany said.

"Listen," Santana chimed in, changing the subject, "don't you guys want to do more than just get shot out of cannons? Don't you want to be a star?"

Artie returned his gaze to Kitty who he could see hadn't really changed – she was still striving to be on top and not afraid to say what she's thinking.

"Oh, that is rich coming from you," Kitty sneered "Pathetically stuffed back into your Cheerios uniforms again."

"Can two people try out together?" The male and female twin Cheerios asked together.

"Yes," Santana answered

"Yep." Brittany said.

"Yeah," Quinn added, "I don't see why not. The three of us tried out together."

"Of course the incest twins want in," Kitty sneered. "Let's go, ladies. We have to explain to these two again why "Flowers in the Attic" is not a love story to aspire to."

And with that Kitty lead the cheerleaders off the field.

Artie looked over and gave her a disgusted look and wave as Kitty lead the others away, before bowing his head again.

It looked to be a bust.

"Well... That went well," Brittany said.

Quinn and Santana gave her an 'are you kidding' look.

But Artie was just sitting there, head bowed, buried in his own thoughts. He thought he was over Kitty, but clearly he'd been wrong. Quinn, seeing his despair, put her hand on his shoulder in support.

The rest of the day, try as he might, he just couldn't get his former flame out of his mind.

== Late Afternoon, WMHS Parking Lot

Artie watched as Kitty walked over to her car and wheeled toward her.

She saw him approach out of the corner of her eye and bit her lower lip as she quickly turned her back because she did not want him to see the tears welling in her eyes. She had somehow managed to stay strong in front of the group of others by going on the offensive, but the truth was seeing him again was bringing back a lot of old feelings that she thought were best kept buried deep inside. She thought that she had finally gotten over him, but the extreme reaction that his unexpected presence had provoked told her otherwise. She was past the anger and bitterness, and now she was just sad and heartbroken.

Damn him! It had been almost a year and a half since he'd left her to go to college. Why hadn't he just stayed away?

"Kitty?" She heard him say in that smooth, soothing voice of his. Why did that still affect her the way that it did?

"What do you want, Artie?" She asked. She had a lump in her throat. Somehow she managed to keep her voice from cracking. Why did he still have this effect on her? It had been over a year. It didn't make sense.

"I thought we should talk," he answered.

"There's nothing to say," she told him, her voice beginning to crack. She began to blink rapidly, trying to suppress the tears that were threatening to flow. Damn him! She was not going to let him see her cry.

"I'm sorry," he offered in that soft soothing voice of his.

The first tear began rolling down her cheek and was quickly wiped away.

"I don't have time for this," she croaked. "I have to go..."

She climbed into her car, started the ignition, and drove away leaving him sitting there with his mouth open about to say something.

"I miss you too..." he mumbled.

Quinn, Brittany, and Santana appeared behind him.

"Give her time," Quinn said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "She's obviously still hurting."

== Thursday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

The Alumni were sitting together comparing notes about the failures of their various efforts to recruit students. Kurt had failed to recruit Spencer the postmodern gay football player. Quinn, Mercedes, Sam, and Tina had been unable to find even one suitable candidate from their visit to the Tea Party Patriots Conservative Club. Not one cheerleader or football player had approached them after The Unholy Trinity and Artie had performed the previous afternoon. Artie was still depressed about his failure to get through to Kitty. Rachel had heard an amazing voice through the air ducts, but had been unable to find the person it was attached to.

"Okay, guys, progress report," Rachel asked, calling them all back together. "How's it going with the new recruits?"

"Horrible," Quinn said, bitterly.

"It ain't working," Puck added matter-of-factly.

"It's not good, Rachel," Mercedes told her. "Glee Club has fallen so far at this school, we're not gonna be able to get anyone to join."

The outlook was beginning to look pretty grave, and Rachel could tell that people were beginning to lose hope.

Suddenly they heard a male voice echoing through the heat ducts. "I'm singing out...!"

"There's the voice again," Rachel said, walking towards the heat duct, the others following her.

"Oh dudes, he's in the showers in the locker room," Sam said. "They're always in the showers."

"Shh!" Rachel and the others told him.

"Oh, can you hear me now, can you hear me now? I'm singing out..." the voice continued singing indistinctly.

== Thursday Morning, WMHS Library

The group fanned out and managed to track down the student in question in the library. It was Roderick, the loner, overweight student with the Beats headset perpetually attached to his ears that Rachel had talked to a few days before, but had managed to spook off.

"O-oh oh!" He sang. With his earphones on as they approached.

When he finally, noticed them approach him from three sides, he seemed scared of them. "Oh, God," he said, taking his earphones off. "Are you guys gonna beat me up? 'Cause I just need a second to get in the foetal position."

He began to get down on his knees.

"No, no, we-we heard you singing," Rachel told him, gesturing for him to get back on his feet. But he continued to sit on the floor.

"Yeah, you're amazing," Mercedes added.

"Dude," Artie told him. "You've got to audition for the glee club."

He scoffed. "So people can make fun of me more than they already do? Even the principal calls me 'White Precious'."

Puck chuckled, physically helping him to his feet. "Come here, you are precious."

"Well," Mercedes responded, "all anybody cares about in Glee Club is the way you sing."

"Look, no one has signed up for your club yet, right?" He asked. Several of the alumni reluctantly nodded. "Okay. Well, having me as your first member is just gonna drive kids away even more. I have designed my entire life around people not noticing me."

"Look," Rachel told him, "no one has wanted to feel more invisible than I have over the past couple of months. But when I'm with these people, they remind me of the best parts of myself. And they would never make fun of me."

"Mmm, not to her face, no way," Brittney said, only half joking.

"You're the poster child for Glee Club," Rachel pleaded. "You're why Mr. Schue started the club in the first place. I-It's a place where misfits can fit in. Will you please try out? I'm really sorry that I came on so strong. But you can sing whatever you want."

"Yeah," Kurt added, smiling. "I guarantee you're gonna get in."

Tina chuckled.

"Look at all of us," Quinn added. "We're all so different, and yet there's nothing that we wouldn't do for each other. We're all just a phone call away. And that is because we took a chance on Glee Club. And that's something that you deserve as well." She and Artie shared an affectionate knowing look.

Several ex-members nodded in agreement.

After a few more moments of consideration, he finally relented.

== Thursday Afternoon, WMHS Auditorium

Later that day Roderick did indeed try out in the auditorium. Sam asked him to remove his earphones because he thought that they were a distraction, but when they saw that it made him uncomfortable, Rachel told him he could keep them. They just wanted to hear him sing.

The music to the song "Mustang Sally" by Sam Cooke began to play. Tina, Quinn, and Santana joined him on stage, dancing behind him and singing background vocals, while the others sat in the seats and watched him.

[ Roderick ]  
Mustang Sally  
Uh, hey  
Guess you better slow your mustang down  
Oh lord  
Well I said now, uh

Mustang Sally, now baby  
Oh lord  
Guess you better slow your mustang down  
Uh

Oh, yeah  
You been running all over the town now  
Oh, I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground  
Uh  
Well I said now  
Listen

[ Roderick (Brittany, Quinn, and Santana) ]  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)

[ Roderick ]  
Listen here  
One of these early mornings, yeah  
Oh, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes  
Uh  
What I said now  
Look at here  
I bought you a brand new mustang  
A nineteen sixty five  
Now you come around signifying a woman  
Girl, won't you let me ride

Mustang Sally, guess you better slow your mustang down  
Uh  
Oh lord, look at here  
You been running all over the town now  
Oh, I got to put your flat feet on the ground  
Uh  
What I said now, yeah  
Now let me say it one more time yo

[ Roderick (Brittany, Quinn, and Santana) ]  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)  
All you want to do is ride around Sally (Ride, Sally, ride)

[ Roderick ]  
Listen  
One of these early mornings  
Oh, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes

(Brittany, Quinn, and Santana: Ride, Sally, ride) Yeah

He had nailed it! The alumni and advisors in the audience erupted in applause.

After only a brief hesitation on Rachel's part they let him in on the spot.

== Friday Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

That afternoon they had their very first glee club meeting. Several of the alumni including Tina, Mercedes, Sam, and Artie were present along with Roderick as well as Jane, an African American student who had transferred to McKinley from the Dalton Academy because they would not allow her to join the Warblers, much to Blaine's outrage.

It was a disappointing start with only two members. The original New Directions had started with 5 students almost 7 years before. But they were trying to look on the positive side.

Moments later Santana, Brittany, and Quinn arrived with Mason and Madison McCarthy, the twin Cheerios whom they had met briefly Wednesday on the football field. They were the two who Kitty had insulted and who had asked about auditioning together.

The two of them were very peppy and had more than a passing similarity, personality wise, to Ryan and Sharpay, characters from the movie "High School Musical". They had yet to hear them sing, however they assure them that they won the karaoke contest at cheerleading camp every summer since they were very young, and their parents had met while touring with the world famous inspirational singing group Up With. People. This last fact seemed to interest Rachel, whose dads had met the same way.

Artie tried to be excited about their slowly growing membership roster, but his heart just wasn't in it. All he could do was think of the woman who wasn't there who should have been, and the regrets he had about their breakup a year and a half before.

Once again the subject of auditioning was brought up briefly, but once it was mentioned that tone deaf Sugar Motta had been allowed in, all objections were dismissed and the two newcomers were welcomed into the glee club with a group hug.

When the group hug broke up Sam grabbed his guitar and began to play leading everyone out into the hallway.

== Friday Afternoon, WMHS Hallway

The alumni and new New Directions celebrated by performing Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero while parading down the hallway on foot and riding on a golf cart.

[ Alumni ]  
Hey!

[ Rachel ]  
Alabama, Arkansas  
I do love my Ma and Pa  
Not the way that I do love you

[ Alumni ]  
Hey!

[ Kurt ]  
Well, holy moly, me, oh, my  
You're the apple of my eye  
Girl, I've never loved one like you

[ Alumni ]  
Ho!

[ Santana (with Brittany) ]  
Man, oh, man, you're my best friend  
I'll scream it to the nothingness  
(There ain't nothing that I need)

[ Alumni ]  
Ho!

[ Artie with Tina ]  
Well, hot and heavy pumpkin pie  
Chocolate candy, my, oh, my

[ Puck and Quinn ]  
There ain't nothing please me more than you

[ Madison and Mason ]  
Home, let me come home  
Home is wherever I'm with you  
Home, let me come home  
Home is wherever I'm with you

[ Alumni ]  
Ho, ho, ho, ho

[ Puck and Santana ]  
La, la, la, la  
Take me home  
(Santana: Daddy) (Puck: Momma)  
I'm coming home

[ New Directions ]  
Ho!

[ Mason ]  
I'll follow you into the park  
Through the jungle, through the dark  
Girl, I've never loved one like you

[ New Directions ]  
Hey!

[ Madison ]  
Moats and boats and waterfalls  
Alleyways and payphone calls  
I've been everywhere with you (Mason: Hey, that's true)

[ New Directions ]  
Hey!

The parade of glee club members went through the locker room where they happened to see Spencer who couldn't resist singing along, despite his supposed lack of interest in joining.

[ Spencer ]  
Laugh until we think (with Santana: we'll die)  
Barefoot on a (with Santana: summer night)  
Never could be sweeter than with you

Then they went back out into the hallways and kept on.

[ New Directions ]  
Hey!

[ Jane ]  
And in the streets we run a free  
Like it's only

[ Jane with Roderick ]  
You and me  
Geez, you're something to see

[ Alumni and New Directions ]  
Hey, hey

[ Jane and Santana with Madison, Mason, Tina, Alumni, and New Directions ]  
Hey, home, let me come home  
Home is wherever I'm with you  
Hey, home, let me come home  
Home is when I'm alone with you

Kitty stood next to the bulletin board watching as the group passed by. She turned away, noticing the glee club sign up sheet. She scoffed at it, and suddenly reached out, tearing it off the wall, crumpling it up and tossing it aside. Then she walked down the hall in the opposite direction.

[ Santana with Kurt, Rachel, Alumni, and New Directions ]  
Alabama, Arkansas  
I do love my Ma and Pa  
Moats and boats and waterfalls

[ Rachel and Santana with Alumni and New Directions ]  
Home is when I'm alone with you

== Friday Evening, WMHS Campus and Football Field

That evening all of the alumni mingled with the new Glee Club members and the rest of the student body, enjoying themselves at the bonfire and pep rally. But unbeknownst to them they were being watched.

# # # # #

It was as if they went out of their way to rub it in her face, to taunt her. And what was the post-modern, gay quarterback wannabe doing singing with them? She thought that he would never make the same mistake and take the hit in his reputation that she had, joining the merry band of misfits. But it looked as if he was beginning to waver.

Despite her best efforts they had managed to recruit four members, possibly five soon. This was something that they would not be allowed to get away with. Even with the four that they had so far, they still needed eight more to even be allowed to compete in Sectionals. She was going to do everything in her power to prevent that from happening!  
They would never succeed in their plot. She would make sure of that, or else her name wasn't Kitty Wilde.

# # # # # # # # # #

Author's Note: So what does everyone think? If you aren't Familiar with my other works, most song transcriptions, unless stated otherwise come from the Glee Wiki, though I do sometimes modify them. As always please review and subscribe! This story is going to go all the way through to the end. ~WA

[ Revised Text: October 2015 ]


	2. Kitty's Back (6x05 - HL2)

**The Wildebrams Season Six **

**Chapter 2: Kitty's Back [The Hurt Locker - Pt. 2]:  
by Wilde Abrams**

Author's Notes: Thank you again for everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to my previous season 6 one shot installments. Sorry for the delay in posting this next installment, but let's just say I got inspired and this one is significantly longer than I intended. Thank you also to Holly (MyGoldStar) who gave this and the last chapter the beta treatment, and for Sarah (Fire Girl125) who offered some suggestions about some elements of this story.

## ## ## ## ##

**== Mid October 2014**

Over the next couple of weeks she watch them from afar is Rachel and Kurt and the and the glee club alumni tried to ignore their failures in their real world lives and inspire the next generation of glee club members.

But much like the year that she had been in glee club, the alumni made it more about themselves and the past than about the glee club itself, and the future for its members. She'd heard that Santana had even proposed marriage to Brittany during a glee club meeting. How pathetic was that!

A few days ago her sources had informed her that Principal Sylvester had come up with a plot to take down the glee club while still in its infancy. Before they even had enough members to officially compete, she had arranged and Invitational between the two best clubs in the state Vocal Adrenaline from Carmel High and the Dalton Academy Warblers, both historic rivals of the New Directions.

She smirked when she realized that Will Schuester the former director of the New Directions was now running Vocal Adrenaline and he would be an instrument to take down the new New Directions while still in their infancy. No more unsuspecting students would be lured into the trap of believing that glee club and the arts mattered. None of them would be hurt the way that she had been...

**== Early Wednesday Afternoon, WMHS Hallway **

Kitty Wilde was walking down the hall of William McKinley High School on her way to her next class when the bell rang and she heard a familiar voice over her shoulder.

"Hey! Your name is Kitty Wilde." It was a very breathless Rachel Berry, who ran up to her from around a corner as she walked down the hall.

Kitty glanced over at the older woman, but kept on walking. Right on time. She'd been expecting this. She continued walking down the hall with a bemused expression on her face as Rachel followed her.

"You were named after a Bruce Springsteen song," Rachel added. "You don't trust newspapers because you think that they lied about Watergate. You once beat up a mascot at a little league softball game for trying to start the wave with everyone. You say that your favorite color is Jesus. Oh, you prefer Triscuits over Wheat Thins."

Kitty's bemused smile got broader. She had to hand it to her. The older woman had done her homework.

"And sometimes you don't wear underwear," she added. "But I got that last one from Artie, so ..."

Mentioning her ex, though, wasn't the smartest move.

"Are you trying to pick me up?" Kirty asked dryly, "Because if you're gonna go lezzy with a cheerleader, I think the world's kind of rooting for you and Quinn Fabray."

She entered the astronomy classroom and Rachel followed. She stopped and turned to face her.

"I just want you to know that I've taken some time to get to know you, and that who you are is important to me," Rachel assured her.

"So that I don't feel like I'm being used when you ask me to join the Glee Club?" Kitty called her out.

"... Pretty much," Rachel admitted.

At least she was honest about it.

"- Look, Rachel," Kitty told her, momentarily turning away and broadening the distance between them before turning back to face her again. "You have a reputation for being an inherently selfish person. You rarely ask people what they think, and when you do, it's usually in the context of 'what do you think about me?' I took a chance and joined Mr. Schuester's Glee Club because I knew that even though it was gonna hurt my rep, that it was being led by a kind man committed to teaching and his protégé; and that there were a bunch of kids in there that would have my back when things got hairy."

Rachel winced slightly at the mention of her late ex-boyfriend, Finn, and stood there fidgeting uncomfortably as Kitty went on.

"Now, what's there? A chubber, a transfer student and a Bizarro Jaime and Cersei Lannister, and an advisor who's gonna jump ship as soon as the real world invites her back to the stage.

"No, thanks."

Kitty turned away again as the second bell rang. Students began filing into the room. She walked out the other door to the classroom, headed down the hall. After only a moment's hesitation Rachel rushed after her.

"Kitty, we need you," Rachel pleaded, as Kitty continued down the hallway. "All right? Your energy, your enthusiasm. I don't know you very well, but I know that you love performing."

She stopped. That got her attention.

"I did," she admitted, softly, biting her lower lip,thinking. "I did love it."

Rachel closed the distance between the two of them.

"You can sing, you can dance," Rachel continued. Kitty slowly turned to face her. "And-and, yes, Santana's cruelty definitely scarred me for the rest of my life, but I know that the Glee Club needs a top bitch to keep everyone in line."

"I invested everything into Glee Club," Kitty told her, hesitantly. "And what did it get me?" Her throat choked up. "They all deserted me." Tears began to well in her eyes. "The only reason I'm still here is because Sue needed me for Cheerios. I miss singing and dancing and the feeling of being in the choir room."

She really did. But she wasn't going to give into flattery and emotional manipulation.

"But I know Sue, and I know you," she explained beginning to tear up. "And I don't want to jump back in just to have my heart broken again in a couple weeks when it all goes away." She was on the verge of tears.

Rachel could really tell how deeply Kitty had been hurt, and really felt for her.

"Look," Rachel said, stepping closer and making eye contact with her. "This is real. Okay? I'm not going anywhere until my job here is done and the Glee Club is back at McKinley permanently.

"Look, you have my word. You come back, and we'll see this through together."

Kitty's face started twitching; she really wanted to believe her, but didn't know if she could. She knew that Rachel had a reputation for manipulating people to get what she wanted. Was she being genuine, or doing the same thing here? She didn't know her well enough to be able to tell.

"Please just think about it," Rachel plead. "I can see that Glee club means a lot to both of us, and between you and me, I don't think we can pull this off without you."

Kitty nodded, and Rachel finally left her alone with her thoughts.

**== Late Tuesday Evening, Kitty's Bedroom **

That evening Kitty lay in bed, watching old New Directions performances on YouTube with her iPad, and considering what Rachel had said. She really, really missed performing. It was exhilarating and gave her the freedom to express feelings she normally kept locked away out of fear of being judged. But, as much as she wanted to believe her, her better judgement told her to stay as far away as possible.

**== Wednesday Morning, WMHS Hallways**

The following morning Kitty was walking through the halls when she found herself approaching the auditorium. She hadn't planned to be anywhere near this part of the school, but something subconsciously drew her there.

**== Wednesday Morning, WMHS Auditorium **

Kitty cautiously and quietly entered the auditorium, staying out of sight. From the black blazers with red trim she recognized the Dalton Academy Warblers performing on the stage. She couldn't help but notice that the Warblers had changed their style and were no longer singing exclusively a Cappella numbers. She'd almost forgotten how much she'd missed show choir until her encounter with Rachel the day before, and had been subconsciously drawn in by their number – a cover of The Knack's "My Sharona."

[ The Warblers ]  
My Sharona  
My Sharona

[ Head Warbler (with The Warblers) ]  
Ooh, my little pretty one, pretty one  
When you gonna give me some (time, Sharona?)  
Ooh, you make my motor run, my motor run  
Gun it coming off of the (line Sharona)

[ Head Warbler with The Warblers ]  
Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind  
Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind

My, my, my, ay, ay, woah!  
M-m-m-my Sharona

[ The Warblers ]  
My Sharona

[ Head Warbler (with The Warblers) ]  
Come a little closer, huh, ah, will ya, huh  
(Close enough to look in my eyes, Sharona)  
Keeping it a mystery gets to me  
(Running down the length of my thighs, Sharona)

[ Head Warbler with The Warblers ]  
Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind  
Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind

My, my, my, ay, ay, woah!  
M-m-m-my Sharona  
M-m-m-my Sharona

[ The Warblers ]  
Na, na, na, na, na-na  
My Sharona

[ Head Warbler (with The Warblers) ]  
When you gonna get to me, get to me  
It is just a matter of (time Sharona)  
Is it d-d-destiny, d-destiny?  
Or is it just a game in my (mind, Sharona?)

[ Head Warbler with The Warblers ]  
Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind  
Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind

My, my, my, ay, ay, woah!  
M-m-m-m-m-m-m-my, my, my, ay, ay, woah!  
M-m-m-my Sharona (The Warblers: Sharona)  
M-m-m-my Sharona (The Warblers: Sharona)  
M-m-m-my Sharona (The Warblers: Sharona)  
M-m-m-my Sharona

Oooaah, my Sharona  
Oooaah, my Sharona  
Oooaah, my Sharona

Whoo!

She stood there in the shadows watching the performance. The music was so moving and powerful. It reminded her of the good times two years ago before things had begun to fall apart. The singing, the dancing, the feeling of being on the stage, whether it was in front of a competition audience or just her fellow glee club members. As much as she didn't want to admit it, cheerleading had never brought her that much joy.

But as the song came to a close, she found that it was too much for her as she felt the tears beginning to well in her eyes again and she silently walked out before the second number began. It was just too painful.

**== Wednesday, Mid-Day, WMHS Choir Room **

Kitty skipped her next class and walked the familiar halls of McKinley considering what she was going to do. Somehow she ended up at the empty choir room. She went inside and walked around. She loved singing and dancing. She missed glee club.

The last time Kitty had been in this room, it had been almost completely cleared out. It had later been turned into a computer lab, which she had avoided using at all costs over the past year, because she didn't want to be reminded of what she'd lost. Now most of the furniture and other furnishings were back, including the Baldwin grand piano and the ugly purple plastic chairs. The trophy shelves were conspicuously empty, and the pictures and posters were missing from the walls, however.

She walked around the room so familiar to her she was washed over by memories of things that happened in that room: ... her very first performance of "Holding Out For A Hero" with Marley. ... Bonding with Quinn Fabray before Sectionals ... 'dancing' next to Artie while Blaine performed Don't Stop Me Now ... Performing a mash-up of "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend" and "Material Girl" with the New Directions girls ... Watching Ryder playing the drums with the band ... She and the other girls singing "Wannnabe by Spice Girls, and Artie being impressed by her performance ... Performing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" for Artie during Stevie Wonder week ... Practicing for Sectionals with the other New Directions ... Smiling and sitting on Artie's lap as he rolled the two of them out the door ... Taking Artie's hand, pouring out her heart to him and giving him permission to make them 'Facebook Official' ... Helping clean Tina up after she was 'Carried' at prom ... Watching Rachel sing "Make You Feel My Love" for Finn ... Artie telling the group that it was 'physically impossible for him to twerk', and she responding with 'I beg to differ' ... Holding hands with Artie as Unique sang If I Were A Boy ... Singing "Raise Your Glass" with April and the New Directions ... and finally, cleaning out the room with Jake, Marley, Ryder, and Unique.

She knelt down next to the risers and noticed the marks on the floor next to where Artie generally parked his wheelchair.

Artie.

So many of her memories of Glee Club involved him. Their breakup had been the second most painful experience of her life. He'd been there with the other alumni when they launched their recruiting efforts a few weeks ago. If she got involved with Glee club again, it was inevitable that she would have to interact with him. Was she ready for that? She didn't know.

But she'd be spending most of her time with Rachel, Kurt, and the new Glee Club members. She had seen the looks on the faces of the new New Directions members. They were in awe at the Warblers, whose performance was good, but not amazing. She could only imagine what their reaction to Vocal Adrenaline had been. She could clearly see that Sue had set up this invitational to sabotage the new Glee Club by shattering the spirits of the newbies, and it was working.

Rachel was right. They really needed her. But was she really willing to risk her current standing at the school by irritating Principal Sylvester by getting involved in the Glee Club again? Was she willing to face her ex-lover again? Could she trust Rachel to keep her word and see things through to victory?

She really didn't know.

**== Wednesday Evening, WMHS Choir Room Office**

Later that evening, Rachel was distracted, looking through sheet music when Kitty entered her office.

"Oh, this is a fun one," she heard Rachel mumble.

"Okay, fine," Kitty said. "I'm in."

Rachel turned around and gave her a big hug. "Oh, my God, amazing."

The two of them smiled broadly. Kitty laughed happily. She was surprisingly excited!

"Where is everybody?" Kitty asked, noticing that the choir room was empty as the two of them walked out of the office.

"Oh," Rachel explained, "I called everyone and pushed glee rehearsal for an hour because I'm still trying -"

"- To come up with a set list for a performance you're giving tomorrow?" Kitty ventured. "That's so Mr. Schue I can't decide if that's sad or adorable."

"The answer is adorable," Rachel told her. "It's just that Sue is judging, and if she wasn't, then I'd have it, but I know she's gonna hate anything that I pick."

"I know," Kitty said simply, with a mischievous look on her face.

"You know what songs she'd like?" Rachel asked.

"No," Kitty answered, "but I know where to find them. Follow me."

**== Wednesday Evening, WMHS Principal's Office **

A few minutes later the two of them stood in Sue's outer office. Rachel held a flashlight while Kitty proceeded to pick the lock to the inner office.

"I probably shouldn't be letting you do this," Rachel told her, "being that you're a student and all. Plus, we're probably being recorded."

"No," Kitty reassured her. "I already cut the main line to the security cameras and the alarm."

Kitty finished picking the lock and gestured to the wall where Rachel could see that, she had indeed sabotaged the security system. Then she led Rachel into the inner office.

"Look," Kitty continued as they approached the desk. "I may not have lived in some vague outer borough of New York City, but there's a reason I'm the only glee kid who survived Sue Sylvester's regime at McKinley." She open the laptop and sat down. "Because I'm ruthless, too."

Rachel stood looking over her shoulder.

"Wait, how do you know her password?" Rachel asked.

In response, Kitty removed a folded slip of paper from inside her top.

"I bribed Becky with a box of smuggled Mexican Twinkies," Kitty answered. "She's got a thing for third-world snack cakes made with real sugar and animal shortening. I don't want to know what 'ThunderBolton69' means, but she hasn't changed it in years."

"Okay, so what exactly are we looking for?" Rachel asked.

"Sue has a secret playlist of songs that she's so emotionally vulnerable to that they're hidden in an encrypted, password-protected folder only she can access," Kitty revealed.

"Wait, how do you have that password?"

"Nicaraguan Ding-Dongs," she answered matter-of-factly. "Take a look at these."

After only a few moments, the two of them had agreed on the perfect set list.

**# # # # #**

Endnote: The title of this chapter not only describes the plot, but is also the title of the Bruce Springsteen song Kitty is named after.

[ Revised Text: October 2015 ]


	3. It Must Have Been Love (6x05 - HL2)

The Wildebrams Season Six

Chapter 3: It Must Have Been Love [The Hurt Locker - Pt. 2]:

by Wilde Abrams

Author's Notes: Thank you again for everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to my previous season 6 one shot installments. Sorry for the delay in posting this next installment, but let's just say I got inspired and this one is significantly longer than I intended. Thank you also to Holly (MyGoldStar) who gave this and the last chapter the beta treatment, and for Sarah (Fire Girl125) who offered some suggestions about some elements of this story.

## ## ## ## ##

== Wednesday Evening, WMHS Choir Room

Twenty minutes later, Kitty marched into the choir room, a stack of photocopied sheet music in her hand when she was spotted by twins Mason and Madison who were entering from the other door with Jane right behind them.

When Madison saw Kitty she sighed, gave her a disbelieving look, and said, "I thought you said you'd never join the Glee Club again?"

"Well," Kitty retorted, "someone has to stop you from marrying your brother."

The twins gave each other an offended look. Jane had a shocked look.

"Oh, uh, Rachel, there's a policeman in your office," the chubber known as Roderick said as he slid his headphones off of his ears now that everyone else was arriving.

Rachel sighed. "Finally." She excused herself to join for police officer in her office. "Thank you so much for coming..." Kitty was only able to partially follow the conversation. He was that half deaf coach of a Gee Club from a deaf school, with whom Rachel was acquainted, moonlighting as a police officer, here to investigate the disappearance of Kurt and Blaine. Apparently he must have had some sort or psychiatric disorder because he alternated between insulting Rachel and insinuating that the two of them were not missing, but had in fact, eloped, despite the fact that the two of them were broken up and dating other people. When he changed tracks to accusing her of kidnapping them for some nonsense sounding nefarious reason, Rachel emerged from the office.

"You get a lawyer," he told her.

"I'll do that," she retorted.

"Don't you leave town." He warned her.

"Okay," she told him over her shoulder.

Kitty began handing out sheet music.

"Uh," Roderick asked after glancing at the title, "why don't we just do what we rehearsed?"

"The-the Bruno Mars setlist was too predictable," Rachel answered. "These songs are more unassuming. They create an emotional resonance."

"Um, no disrespect," Jane chimed in, "but we don't have time for a weekly lesson. Roderick is right. Maybe we should just stick to our original plan."

"Or," Kirty interrupted, "we could shut our traps and trust our teacher." She walked over and stood next to Rachel in support. "Because, the last time I checked, Rachel Berry has more talent in her little finger than anyone in this stinking, rotten town."

The other glee club members stood there stunned.

Rachel sighed and took advantage of the silence. "Look, I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you." She stepped forward and began walking back and forth in front of the group. "Sue Sylvester hates me. She always has. And now she hates you guys for joining the only club in the school that she can't control. But it's not about winning a competition. It's about being able to walk down the hallway and-and face Sue Sylvester or any Sue Sylvester that you meet for the rest of your life and-and show them that we may not always win, but we're not gonna go down without a fight."

Kitty smiled. It really felt good being around someone else who got it.

"So if you guys want to quit," Rachel told them, "now is the time. You'll probably have an easier experience at this school if you do. But if you don't want to, then we'll just stay here and-and we'll work super hard and put our noses to the grindstone and we might even have to pull an all-nighter."

"An all-nighter?" Mason said. "That's amazing!" He and Madison shared a fist bump and booty bump.

"Yeah, and we can order pizza and root beer and have, like, a party," another voice chimed in. Kitty recognized him as Spencer, a post-modern-gay football player that she had heard through the grapevine that Kurt had tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit.

"I'm s- Are-are you joining us?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"You want to win, don't you?" Spencer asked.

The other Glee Club members laughed and said: "Yes! Yes! Yes, we do!" They all crowded around and welcomed the newcomer.

Kitty and Rachel shared a smile. Rachel did a small celebratory dance. Things were falling into place.

== Late Wednesday Evening, WMHS Choir Room

They did indeed order in food and set to work on their performance. The set list consisted of three songs - "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette, "Father Figure" by George Michael, and "All Out of Love" by Air Supply.

It was agreed that Kitty and Spencer would lead things off with "It Must Have Been Love" because the two of them were older, and had the charisma and stage presence to pull it off. Everyone else provided background vocals. It felt weird to sing a love song with someone other than Artie, but she put it out of her mind and reminded herself that he was gay and could in no way be interested in her, not that she was looking anyway. She had closed and locked the door on that part of her life for the foreseeable future following she and Artie's breakup a year and a half ago.

The second song, "Father Figure" was a George Michael song, and since Roderick had a similar voice and stage presence, they agrees that he would sing that one solo with the rest of the club providing background vocals.

The first disagreement happened over the third song. It was a sappy post breakup ballad by Air Supply. Jane and the twins thought that it should be a full group number with everyone getting solos. Kitty, on the other hand believed that to be fair it should showcase the three members who did not get solos in the other songs with the others singing backup only. That wasn't the only reason she didn't want to sing a solo in the third song, but fortunately the rest of them seemed to buy the argument and didn't press it once Rachel chimed in with her agreement with Kitty. Rachel could tell that there was something else on Kitty's mind but resolved to let it go for now. They were running out of time to perfect their numbers. They were expected to take the stage at 10am.

The second disagreement happened over staging and choreography. Kitty kept suggesting fairly simplistic staging and Rachel kept agreeing with her.

"This isn't going to be good enough to beat The Warblers, let alone, Vocal Adrenaline," Jane argued.

Several others chimed in, in agreement.

"We need to work with our strengths, " Rachel answered, firmly.

"But-" Jane said.

"Look," Kitty told them, "The type of choreography that Vocal Adrenaline do is taught to them by professional choreographers, and is perfected after dozens of hours of rehearsal. It's their specialty. Yes, it's possible that the twins and I could come up with a passable routine and teach it to you in the few hours we have left, but doing so would be at the expense of the music, and there is no possible way it could compare to what Vocal Adrenaline did. That's not a slight. It's just a fact."

"We need to focus on our strengths," Rachel added, "which are our voices. That's one place that Vocal Adrenaline has traditionally been good at, but not great. If we are going to compete with them, we need to focus on our strengths."

"Rachel, I thought we all had a say in this," Roderick added. "Why should we listen to what you want?" He asked Kitty.

"It's not what I want," Kitty answered. "It's what's best for the team."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw Rachel give her a proud, but bemused look. But she didn't have time to think too much about it.

"And what makes you the most qualified to decide that? This isn't Cheerios." Madison asked.

"Kitty is here because-" Rachel began.

But she was interrupted by a very irritated Kitty who addressed the group, "Show of hands. How any of you have been members of winning National Show Choir teams?"

Only Rachel raised her hand.

"Okay, how many of you have ever placed in a National Show Choir competition?"

Rachel and Kitty raised their hands.

"How many of you have ever participated in a show choir competition at all before, let alone won one?"

Still only Rachel and Kitty had their hands held up.

"How many of you have ever even been in a show choir before?"

Jane raised her hand along with Rachel and Kitty.

"As you can see," Kitty told them, "I've got a lot of experience than the rest of you don't. Now, if you really don't want to embarrass yourselves, and possibly win this thing, you'd be well advised to listen to me."

They all stood there looking at each other.

"The problem," Kitty told them, "is that you're thinking gimmicks and spectacle; and, yes, both Vocal Adrenaline and the Warblers share that in different ways. But the most important thing here is the music. It has the power to affect people all on its own. If we're going to have any chance of winning here, we need to strip it down. No elaborate costumes or choreography, no special effects, no gimmicks; just the music.

"Sometimes less is more. That's a little something I learned from Mr. Schuester, Katy Perry, and Tina Cohen-Chang."

No one argued with her after that.

== Early Thursday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

Early in the morning, everyone was taking breaks when Rachel came back into the choir room and noticed that Kitty was still sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs, staring at her phone.

"Kitty, are you okay? Kitty?" Rachel asked with a concerned look on her face and tone in her voice as she approached the younger woman.

But her attention was elsewhere. "Hmm," she finally responded, bringing her attention back of the present. "What?"

She lowered her phone to her lap and looked at Rachel.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked. "I noticed that your attention was somewhere else."

"Never better," Kitty answered too quickly.

Rachel stared at her, making it clear that she didn't agree.

After a few moments, Kitty scoffed, "Fine. But don't read too much into this. I'm just telling you because I figured you're someone who would understand."

Rachel nodded.

"And if you tell anyone about this..."

"They will never find the body," Rachel finished for her. "Got it."

"It's just that two of the three songs we are singing are about lost love..."

Rachel look confused for several seconds before her facial expression began to changed to one of realization; she understood what Kitty was getting at.

"Oh my God, " Rachel realized. "Artie! You're not over him are you?"

In response, Kitty showed her the screen of her phone that displayed a picture of the two of them. Artie in his chair, with Kitty behind him leaning forward with a huge grin on her face while his head was turned and he was kissing her cheek.

"Oh wow," Rachel said. "You two were an adorable couple."

"I thought so," Kitty told her. "I really loved him and thought he loved me too. I gave up a lot in order to be with him, and had no regrets. I don't understand how he could have let go of us and moved on so quickly!"

Rachel took a seat next to her and put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "I have to admit that I wasn't paying a lot of attention when he first moved to New York, because I was so involved with "Funny Girl". Sam could probably say more, but my impression was that it wasn't exactly easy for him for the first month or so."

"Maybe not," Kitty told her, tears beginning to well in her eyes, "but it took me over six months to get to the point where I wasn't thinking about him a dozen times a day, and crying myself to sleep at night.

"That was the one positive thing about Glee Club and the other former members being gone; there were few remaining reminders of him and what we'd had. Until yesterday it had been well over a year since I'd been in this room, and I avoided the auditorium whenever possible. I put all of my energies into Cheerios and tried to put Glee Club out of my mind, so I could put the whole thing behind me.

"I thought I'd succeeded until a couple weeks ago during Homecoming week when I heard all of you singing and dancing "Take On Me" through the hallways, and when we had that encounter on the football field, it all came crashing back to me. He tried to come after me, but I was too scared and drove off before we could have the chance to talk."

Rachel nodded, Artie, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany had regaled Kurt, her, and the others with their story of how the only former member of the New Directions left at the school had derailed their recruiting efforts.

"Well, it's obvious that the two of you have some stuff to discuss. I don't think he's dating anyone. He'll be coming back in week or so. Maybe the two of you should talk then?" Rachel suggested.

"I'm not sure my heart could take that," Kitty told her. "It was all I could do to keep my composure a couple weeks ago when we saw each other for those few minutes on the football field."

"Who says you need to keep your composure? Maybe it won't change anything for you, but it might feel good to let the feelings out.

"But the most important thing right now," Rachel continued with a concerned look on her face, "is are you going to be able for get through this performance without crying?"

"I'm an experienced performer, Rachel," Kitty reassured her, "and I am a master of masking my true feelings in front of others. It will be fine. If nothing else, I'll channel those emotions into the performance, and make it that much more believable."

Rachel nodded. She'd done the same thing countless times.

Then something dawned on Kitty.

"Hold on," she said. "Are you asking me about this because you care about me, or because you're concerned about my performance in the invitational?"

"Honestly?" Rachel admitted sheepishly, "it's a little bit of both. I really, really want the invitational to be a success because of the positive impact that it would have on the morale of the group and recruitment of prospective new members. But, believe it or not, I've always felt kind of bad about the fact that I didn't get to know any of you 'newbies' or even knew Ryder's name when asked. Unfortunately it's too late for me to makes it up to the rest of them, but I'm not making that mistake again."

They hugged.

"Wait," Kitty asked after the two of them had broken apart. "Did we just have a girl bonding moment?"

"Yes," Rachel said, smiling broadly.

From the look on her face, Rachel thought that she was going to say something snarky, but was surprised when Kitty simply said, "It felt good."

Just then they were interrupted by the return of the other New Directions members.

# # # # #

Author's Notes: If you like my story and want me to continue, please review, favorite, and subscribe.

[ Revised Text: October 2015 ]


	4. All Out of Love (6x05 - HL2)

The Wildebrams Season Six

Chapter 4: All Out Of Love [The Hurt Locker - Pt. 2]:

by Wilde Abrams

Author's Notes: Thank you again for everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to my previous season 6 one shot installments. Sorry for the delay in posting this next installment, but let's just say I got inspired and this one is significantly longer than I intended. Thank you also to Holly (MyGoldStar) who gave this and the last chapter the beta treatment, and for Sarah (Fire Girl125) who offered some suggestions about some elements of this story.

## ## ## ## ##

== Thursday Morning, WMHS Auditorium Backstage

The New Directions were scheduled to take the stage at 10AM. Once they were happy with their planned performances, they had taken quick showers in the locker rooms and raided the storage room of glee club and drama costumes and props, and selected some plain blue costumes for their performance. They weren't custom fit, but they would have to do.

Kitty and the others waited in the backstage wings of the auditorium for performance time. Several of the others paced nervously back and forth. When Kitty could no longer stand to look at them she began to look around.

Kitty glanced over and saw Sue give her a dirty look. She sighed. By re-joining glee club Kitty had crossed a line with Sue, and she had no doubt that it was only a matter of time before she decided to attempt to enact some form of revenge on her. She made a mental note to watch out for signs of this, but decided to focus on the task at hand for now.

When Sue made a comment about rotten tomatoes she looked away.

Kitty looked over and saw Rachel and her former teacher Mr. Schue, talking before the performance. Her feelings of bitterness momentarily returned at the sight of the one time teacher and mentor who had not fought for the New Directions when it was canceled, and eventually fled the school entirely when a job with more money presented itself. She forced those feelings aside and decided to focus on the upcoming performance.

== Thursday Morning, WMHS Auditorium

Just before 10 AM that morning, Principal Sylvester took the stage and addressed the crowd, which consisted almost exclusively of rival glee club members and Sam Evans.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Sue said, "on behalf of everyone at McKinley, I sincerely apologize for the New Directions."

There was scattered applause from the audience.

But Sam was excited. "Yeah!" he whooped.

The curtain parted and Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" began to play.

The five new New Directions members stood on stage dressed in all blue outfits, reminiscent of a picture Kitty had seen of the first New Directions invitational six years previous.

Kitty and Spencer sang lead vocal and Rachel gave Kitty a reassuring look from offstage. As the song began, Kitty noticed Sue give her a confused look. Clearly she hadn't expected that the New Directions would be singing the song that they were. Did she know what Kitty had done? She didn't have time to worry about it now.

The glee club members did simple choreography as they walked around the stage; Kitty and Spencer moving near each other. Several times throughout the song, Kitty noticed Sue becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

[ Kitty and Spencer ]

It must have been love

But it's over now

~~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Kitty alone in a bed obviously meant for two people ~~~~~

Lay a whisper on my pillow

Leave the winter on the ground

~~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Kitty awakens in a bed, glancing at a second pillow, expecting to see a second person there. ~~~~~~

I wake up lonely, there's air of silence

In the bedroom and all around

~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Kitty closes her eyes, remembers a man touching her face ~~~~~

Touch me now, I close my eyes

And dream away

[ Kitty and Spencer with New Directions ]

It must have been love but it's over now

~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Artie turns away, Kitty is in tears. ~~~~~

It must have been good but I lost it somehow

It must have been love but it's over now

From the moment we touched

~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Artie touches Kitty's arm across a lunch room table ~~~~~

'til the time had run out

~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Artie turns away ~~~~~

[ Kitty with Spencer (New Directions) ]

~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Kitty in Artie's strong, protective arms ~~~~~

Make-believing we're together

That I'm sheltered by your heart

But in-and-outside (In-and-outside)

I've turned to water

~~~~~ FLASHBACK: Kitty is crying ~~~~~

Like a teardrop in your palm (In your palm)

And it's a hard winter's day

I dream away

Oh, oh

[ Kitty and Spencer with New Directions (New Directions) ]

It must have been love (Must have been love)

But it's over now (But it's over now)

It's all that I wanted

Spencer with New Directions:

Now I'm living without (Kitty: Living without)

Kitty and Spencer with New Directions:

It must have been love but it's over now

Kitty with New Directions:

It's where the water flows (Spencer: It's where the water flows)

[ Kitty ]

It's where the wind blows (Spencer: Whoa-oh)

Spencer with Kitty and New Directions:

Where the wind blows

[ Kitty ]

Yeah, yeah

[ New Directions ]

Where the wind blows (Kitty and Spencer: Blows)

[ Kitty with Spencer and New Directions (New Directions) ]

It must have been love (It must have been love)

But it's over now (But it's over now)

It must have been good but I lost it somehow

It must have been love (It must have been love)

But it's over now (But it's over now)

From the moment we touched til the time had run out

[ Kitty and Spencer ]

Yeah

[ Kitty with Spencer and New Directions (Kitty with New Directions) ]

It must have been love (but it's over now)

It was all that I wanted now I'm living without

It must have been love but it's over now

[ Kitty with Spencer (New Directions) ]

It's where the water flows

It's where the wind blows (Where the wind blows)

It must have been love (Must have been love)

But it's over now

Oh-oh

It must have been love (Must have been love)

It must have been love (Must have been love)

[ Kitty and Spencer ]

Must have been love

As the song ended, Kitty quickly wiped away a tear, unnoticed by anyone except her duet partner. Spencer leaned over and whispered in Kitty's ear, "Whomever it is, it's his loss."

"What are you talking about?" she asked quietly with her usual snark.

"You're trying to hide it, but I can see it in your eyes when you sing," he told her. "It's obvious that you are still hurting from someone who had bruised your heart pretty badly."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said, straight faced. But of course he did.

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Whatever you say. I just usually have a sixth sense about these things. Let me know if you want me to beat him up for you."

She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes. Boys! If she wanted something as petty as revenge, she was perfectly capable of enacting it herself!

Just then, a very dishevelled Kurt and Blaine rushed through the door. Sue, quite uncharacteristically, seemed very happy to see them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw Rachel gesture toward her, telling Kurt about her new recruits. She didn't have time to say anything before the music changed and Father Figure by George Michael began to play.

Roderick stepped up in front of the group and took lead vocal and the others sung background and swayed behind him.

[ Roderick ]

That's all I wanted

Something special, something sacred in your eyes

For just one moment

To be bold and naked at your side

Sometimes I think that you'll never

Understand me

[ New Directions ]

Understand me

Understand me

Understand me

[ Roderick ]

Maybe this time is forever

Say it can be, woah

That's all you wanted

Something special, someone sacred in your life

Just for one moment

To be warm and naked at my side

Sometimes I think that you'll never

Understand me

[ New Directions ]

Understand me

Understand me

Understand me

[ Roderick ]

But something tells me together

We'd be happy, woah

[ New Directions (Roderick) ]

(Baby) I will be your father figure

(Oh, baby) Put your tiny hand in mine

(I'd love to) I will be your preacher teacher

(Be your daddy) Anything you have in mind

(It would make me) I will be your father figure

(Very happy) I have had enough of crime

(Please let me) I will be the one who loves you

Until the end of time (Til the end of time)

[ Roderick ]

That's all I wanted

But sometimes love can be mistaken for a crime

That's all I wanted

Just to see my baby's blue eyed shine

This time I think that my lover

Understands me

[ New Directions ]

Understand me

Understand me

Understand me

[ Roderick ]

If we have faith in each other then we can be strong

[ New Directions (Roderick) ]

(Baby) I will be your father figure

Put your tiny hand in mine

(My baby) I will be your preacher teacher

Anything you have in mind

(Hee) I will be your father figure

I have had enough of crime

(Baby) I will be the one who loves you

Until the end of time (Til the end of time)

[ Roderick (with New Directions) ]

If you are the desert, I'll be the sea

If you ever hunger, hunger for me

(Whatever you ask for), that's what I'll be

[ New Directions ]

That's what I'll be

That's what I'll be

[ Roderick (with New Directions) ]

So when you remember the ones who have lied

Who said that they cared but then laughed as you cried

Beautiful darling

Don't think of me

(Because all I ever) wanted

[ New Directions (and Roderick) ]

I will be your father figure

(Put your tiny hand in mine)

I will be your preacher teacher

(Anything you have in mind)

Will be your father figure

[ Roderick with New Directions ]

And I have had enough of crime

So I will be the one who loves you

Until the end of time

[ New Directions (Roderick) ]

I will be your father (I will be your)

I will be your preacher (Father)

I will be your father (I will be your daddy)

[ Roderick (with New Directions) ]

(I will be the one who loves you)

Til the (end of time)

Throughout the song Kitty noticed Sue becoming increasingly uncomfortable again. Their plan was working.

The song ended in polite applause, and the music for their final song All Out Of Love by Air Supply began to play.

Kitty took a deep breath and glanced at Rachel who gave her another smile of support. Kitty let herself go into autopilot and let the words flow out of her mouth without thinking about them. To do otherwise was just too painful.

This time around the New Directions members elected for even simpler staging and each member sat on a stool and held a mic in their hand. This time Madison, Mason, and Jane took turns on lead vocals while the others sang background.

[ Mason ]

I'm lying alone with my head on the phone

Thinking of you 'till it hurts

I know you hurt, too, but what else can we do

Tormented and torn apart

[ Madison ]

I wish I could carry your smile in my heart

For times when my life seems so low

It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring

When today doesn't really know

[ Madison and Mason ]

Doesn't really know

[ Madison with Mason and New Directions ]

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you

I know you were right believing for so long

I'm all out of love, what am I without you?

I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong

[ Jane ]

I want you to come back and carry me home

Away from these long, lonely nights

[ Jane with New Directions ]

I'm reaching for you, are you feeling it too?

Does the feeling seem oh-so right?

[ Jane and Mason ]

And what would you say if I called on you now

And said that I can't hold on?

[ Mason ]

There's no easy way

[ Jane and Mason (with New Directions) ]

(It gets harder each day)

Please love me or I'll be gone, I'll be gone

[ Jane with Mason and New Directions ]

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you

I know you were right, believing for so long

I'm all out of love, what am I without you?

I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong

[ Mason with Madison ]

What, what are you thinking of?

[ Jane with New Directions ]

What are you thinking of?

[ Mason with Madison ]

What are you thinking of?

[ Jane and Mason (with New Directions) ]

What are you thinking (of?)

[ Madison ]

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you

[ Mason (New Directions) ]

I know you were right

(with Jane and New Directions: Believing for so long)

I'm all out of love (All out of love)

What am I without you?

I can't be too late

I know I was so wrong

Kitty and Rachel shared a smile again. Sue was so moved by the music that she was forced to sit down. As the chorus began, Sue began to sing along. Kitty was ecstatic. Their plan was working! Towards the end of the chorus Sue placed her face in her hands and began to cry, confusing Mason, Madison and Jane, who had not been brought in on the plan.

[ Mason with New Directions (New Directions) ]

I'm all out of love (All out of love)

I'm so lost without you

I know you were right

Believing for so long

I'm all out of love (All out of love)

What am I without you?

I can't be too late

I know I was so (and Jane: wrong)

I'm all out of love (All out of love)

I'm so lost without you (Jane: I'm so lost)

I know you were right

Believing for so long (Jane: So lost, so lost)

I'm all out of love

What am I without you?

I can't be too late (and Jane: to say that I was so) wrong

[ Jane with New Directions ]

Wrong

There was light applause as the song ended. Kitty notice Mr. Schue was the only one from Carmel High who seemed genuine. The few others who managed to applaud only did so out of politeness. Rachel and Kurt began jumping up and down, hugging each other, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes."

She didn't know what Kurt was so excited about, he'd had absolutely nothing to do with this performance, but whatever.

Thursday Afternoon, WMHS Auditorium

Twenty minutes later all three groups were gathered on stage as Sue announced the results.

Kitty and the others stood there nervously. She could see members of the other teams also agitated.

"In third place, and just not doing a very good job at all," Sue commented, "ladies and gentlemen, from Dalton Academy, - the Warblers."

"What?" Blaine asked in disbelief.

In the audience, Sam was the only one who applauded.

"You really didn't do a very good job," She told the Warblers captain as she handed him a simple blue ribbon attached to an old Utility Room door sign. "Congratulations." He re-joined his team in disgust. One of their members was actually crying.

"And in second place," Sue continued, "this year's runner-up and winner of this bedazzled bowling pin I found in the dumpster, from Carmel High, Vocal Adrenaline."

There were looks of shock and disgust from most of the members of their team. Sue didn't even look at their team captain, who seemed shocked, angry and bitter as she held out their prize for him to collect.

As before, Sam was the only person clapping.

"Congratulations," a very surprised Mr. Schuester said to Rachel.

"Thank you," an astonished Rachel told him back.

Kitty began to smile and cover her mouth with her hands; her knees momentarily giving way, as the realization of what was happening hit her. They had pulled it off. They had won!

"And finally," Sue finished, "first place for this year's invitational; I don't know how they did it, because they were sitting on stools, singing in unison Ladies and gentlemen, from McKinley High, the New Directions!"

Rachel and the others jumped for joy.

Kitty, as the senior member of the group bound forward with a giant grin on her face to collect their prize, a small but real trophy. Sue glared at her, grabbing the trophy off the AV cart she'd set it on herself before begrudgingly letting Kitty have it. She was so happy as she took the trophy in her hands and delivered it to her overjoyed team. It felt so good to be back in Glee Club!

Kitty smiled as she handed their trophy to Rachel. They had done it! They had won the invitational, and the New Directions were back on the show choir map!

The room was filled with cheering, laughter, and applause.

== Late Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

Later In the choir room the New Directions and both of their teachers were gathered around as Rachel placed their trophy on the shelf of honor.

"This is kind of garbage," Spencer said. "That's not even a real trophy."

Upon closer examination, it appeared to be someone's old 4H trophy with a new dedication plate; complete with the form of some animal at the top, but it didn't matter.

"It's a start," Rachel reassured him. "From small things, big things one day come."

"Hold up, Rachel," Kitty said. "I got this."

Everyone turned to her and Kitty addressed her fellow New Directions members, "Listen up, noobs. We just went up against the two best show choirs in the state. They were full of seniors who have been working together for years. They thought they were gonna come into our house and push us around. But now they all went home feeling like their willies are two inches shorter."

Several people chuckled.

"Now," she continued, "I expect to make fun of all of you at some point. Fat kid, gay boy, creepy incest twins, other girl," she glanced at Roderick, Spencer, Mason &amp; Madison, and Jane in turn. "But I never want to hear any of you disparaging the things that we do as a team. Got it?"

Several of them nodded.

"Um, can I just say something?" Roderick asked. "I just wanted to say thank you to Ms. Berry and Mr. Hummel for, you know, bringing us all together and helping us do so well up there. You guys are both really good teachers."

"Thank you," Rachel said. "As your teachers, we just want to say how proud of you guys we are. I mean, I never would've thought coming back here that I would step on a stage without disintegrating into a puddle, but thank you, guys, so much just for all of your hard work."

"I heard she tends to make everything about herself," Mason whispered to his sister.

"Shh," she whispered back, "if you're gonna say things like that to me, you need to use your psychic inside voice."

"- It's just the beginning, guys," Kurt took over. "Got it? Everyone put your hand in." They all stood in a circle and placed their hands on top of one another. "I'm gonna lead you through an ancient Glee tradition. Alright, on three, give me an 'amazing.' Kitty, count us in."

Kitty smiled and said, "- One, two, three."

"Amazing!" They all said in unison as their hands rose and parted performing the 'show circle'

Kitty grinned. It felt really good to be back in the Glee Club.

Back where she belonged.

# # # # # #

Author's Endnote: There you have it! Kitty is back in the New Directions and apparently the team captain. I'm so glad they brought her back this season! Now she just needs to make up with Artie, because it's so obvious that she still loves him. If you'd like to continue seeing these, please subscribe and review this, as well as my other work. ~W.A.

[ Revised Text: October 2015 ]


	5. Beginning Again (6x06 - WTWN)

The Wildebrams Season Six

Chapter 5: Beginning Again (6x06 - WTWN)

By. Wilde Abrams

Author's Notes: Thank you again for everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to my earlier season 6 one shot installment. Like the last one, I am breaking this episode up into several chapters. Thank you also to Holly (MyGoldStar) who gave this and the last chapter the beta treatment, and for Sarah (Fire Girl125) who offered some suggestions about some elements of this story.

== Monday Morning, WMHS Choir Room Office

Artie Abrams rolled down the halls of William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. He'd managed to get some more time off from college, and he was back to do his friends Rachel and Kurt a favor and help mentor the inexperienced members of the newly reformed glee club, which they were co-directing.

He was headed to the glee club office to see Rachel a few hours before the Monday meeting at her request.

He rolled up to the door and knocked on the door jam.

"Hi," he greeted her, warmly.

"Hi Artie, come in," she said rising from the desk where she was going through some sheet music. He rolled in through the door. She gave him a hug and then closed the door behind him.

"So," she continued. "How's everything going at the Brooklyn Film Academy?"

"Great," he told her. "I just got an A on my last short film and my professors are submitting it to a couple film festivals. I'm excited about the one I just turned in, and I'm getting good feedback on my proposal for my next one, too."

"That's great," she told him. "I always knew you'd be successful."

"How are things here?" He asked.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," she told him. "Last week Sue surprised us by arranging an invitational between the Warblers, Vocal Adrenaline, and the New Directions."

"Wait! What?" He asked. "Can she do that? Are your kids ready for that?"

"Well, she did," Rachel told him. "And honestly, I really didn't think that they were. We were really left scrambling, and then when she locked Kurt and Blaine in a fake elevator-"

"-What?-"

"-long story." She told him. "Anyway, I had to punt. But, between Sam and I, we managed to recruit two new members. A football player named Spencer-"

"-The one Kurt had been trying to recruit?-"

"-Yes," she confirmed, "and the other one," she added, cautiously, "was your ex-girlfriend... Kitty-"

"-You managed to recruit Kitty?" She nodded. "That's great!" He smiled.

"So you're not mad?"

"Of course not!" He told her. "In case you forgot, I tried to recruit her when I was here before."

"Yeah, but it didn't go over too well, as I recall," Rachel reminded him.

"True," he responded. "I was going to try again today, but I guess I don't have to now. How did you manage to do it? If memory serves you didn't even know much about her and she didn't really care for you that much."

"Honestly," she said, "I did a little research, swallowed my pride, and appealed to her love of music and performing. I also gave her my word that I wasn't leaving until Glee was back at McKinley permanently.

"I was a little reluctant at first, but now I am so I glad that I did! She's super talented and a natural born leader. She helped me with the set list, and was instrumental in rallying the others into a more... cohesive group."

"Yeah," he told her. "Kitty is a natural leader, and would likely have been team captain or co-captain had the New Directions not been disbanded."

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Rachel asked. "If it's too personal you can just say so."

"Okay," he said. He had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

"What exactly happened between the two of you? Because I get the feeling she's harboring some ill feelings."

"Oh right; you weren't around for it." He sighed and said, "Long story short, after becoming friends and frequent dance partners my senior year, and having this subtle flirtation for a good chunk of the year, we dated the last couple months of the year and into the summer. Then we broke up because of how none of the other alumni were able to maintain long distance relationships for a long period of time, and it wasn't fair to either of us to drag it out. I thought at the time that we were okay with it, but in retrospect it affected both of us more than we expected. She was still really upset when we saw her on the football field during Homecoming Week, and it dug up some old feelings for me too. It's probably mostly my fault. I miss her too.

"She's actually the one who gave me the push I needed to get over my fears and move to New York for film school, even conspired with my mom to do it. Out of all the girls I've dated, she's the only one that l really miss, and I regret the breakup. I was actually planning on talking to her about it once I convinced her to re-join the New Directions.

"Why do you ask? Did she say anything?"

"No," she lied. "At least not directly. But I get the impression that she is still hurting from something more than just the loss of Glee Club and her friends. If you still care for her, you should probably talk to her."

"I was planning to," he assured her, "but thanks."

"If you're open to suggestions, I have something that might be beneficial to both your relationship and this week's lesson."

She handed him some sheet music.

== Late Monday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

Later that morning, Artie rolled into the choir room. It had changed since he'd been there a couple weeks ago. He noticed that there were now chairs occupying the spot in the center of the front row where he traditionally parked his wheelchair and the twin Cheerios occupied those chairs.

After a moment's hesitation he moved over to the far side of the room near where Finn had generally siten. He noticed that Kitty was sitting on the opposite end of the row next to Spencer. They eyed each other briefly, but said nothing. He also noticed that Brittany and Santana were there sitting in the back row and waved at them briefly.

The bell rang and Rachel and Kurt rushed in.

"Hello, winners!" Rachel greeted them. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm still basking in the glow of our first of many championship trophies."

She glanced over at the invitational trophy sitting on the shelf. The old New Directions trophies were, apparently, still safely in storage somewhere.

"Well," Kurt continued. "Rachel and I want our champions to celebrate another champion."

"Katniss Everdeen!" Brittany wanted to know.

"Close," Kurt said.

"Burt Bacharach," Rachel announced excitedly.

They slid the whiteboard aside to reveal his name on the board.

"This is a good time to go to the bathroom or get a snack," Artie heard Kitty mumble to Spencer. Still the same old Kitty.

"Burt Bacharach has written seventy three -count 'em- seventy three Top 40 hits," Kurt informed them. "He's also won three Oscars, two Golden Globes, a boatload of Grammys, and his music has been featured on everything from The Simpsons to Goodfellas."

"And you can't help but grin when you listen to his music," Rachel added. "His songs are uplifting and theatrical and optimistic."

"We need to soak up all his uplifting energy as we get ready for Sectionals," Kurt said. "Which are five weeks away, but I guarantee you, Vocal Adrenaline and the Warblers are doing everything in their power to regain their former glory.

"But fear not, because we have a secret weapon," Rachel added in a slightly louder voice than necessary.

"Is that my cue?" Mercedes asked entering the room amid cheering. "Diva! Yes, I am here to mentor you, and yes, these are my beautiful diamonds, and yes, my single "Shakin' My Head" is number 89 on iTunes."

She began handing out copies of her CD to the excited group.

"Ooh! So, which one of you wants me to mentor you? Somebody?"

"- Me, me, me."

"- Me."

"- Oh, my God! "

Kitty feigned excitement and enthusiasm with the others, but secretly wanted to roll her eyes. She'd experienced Mercedes mentorship before. The last time she's done this she'd spent 80% of her time helping one student, and given the rest of them some general tips. She really wondered who she would zero in on this time now that Marley was gone, and questioned whether she could learn much more from the pop diva.

Kitty did not have much more time to think about it because Rachel and Kurt called the group back together.

"Okay everyone! Okay everyone," Rachel said "I know everybody's excited but I need everybody to take their seats so we can get started."

When everyone had taken their seats, including Mercedes who took a vacant chair, and turned to face her, Rachel continued. "This week we're going to continue our practice of singing songs about this week's theme, and to kick us off I have asked one of our alumni mentors Artie, to give us a little example of what we're looking for."

Artie smiled and went go over to where his guitar was sitting on the guitar stand. He lifted it up into his arms and rolled over to the center of the room where he faced the group. Then he began a solo rendition of "Only Love Can Break A Heart" by Gene Pitney.

[ Artie ]

Only love can break a heart

Only love can mend it again

Last night I hurt you

But darling

Remember this

Only love can break a heart

Only love can mend it again hmm hmm

You know I'm sorry

I'll prove it

With just one kiss

The first half of the song was sung to the group in general with several pointed glances in Kitty's direction, however when he began the second verse it was clear that the song was being sung to her and only her.

[ Artie ]

Give me a chance to make up for the harm I've done

Try to forgive me, and let's keep

The two of us one

Please let me hold you

And love you

For always and always

Only love can break a heart

Only love can mend it again

Only love can break a heart

Only love can mend it again

The room erupted in a round of applause from both the students, alumni and teachers as Artie finished the song. He glanced over at Kitty and saw that while she was not crying they were definitely the beginning of tears welling in her eyes.

Spencer, realizing that Artie was the one who Kitty was harboring hurt from, leaned in and spoke quietly enough that no one else could hear, "Let me know if you change your mind about my offer to beat him up for you."

She just ignored him.

== Late Morning, WMHS Hallway

"Can we talk?" Artie asked as he approached Kitty as the two of them exited the choir room about a half an hour later.

"Yeah, I'd like that," she answered cautiously, glancing at him.

Without a word he followed her through the halls of the school. She didn't say where she was leading him, but he instinctively knew. Rachel had once said that the auditorium was Finn's and her Jerusalem, the place where everything in life lead them back to. But for Kitty and Artie it had been under the stars and planets in the astronomy classroom, where they had held their secret meetings and make out sessions before they had gone public with their relationship. It was where they had shared their first kiss and where she had told him that she loved him for the first time. It felt like so long ago, but the room itself had barely changed.

She entered the room, locking the door after he had followed her in. Without a word she took her place at the table in the back row and waited for him to begin.

After putting the parking brake on his chair, he took a deep breath, met her eyes with his, and simply said, "I'm sorry..."

Silence filled the space between them for several awkward moments until she broke it.

"Is that all you are going to say?" She asked, with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"No," he answered, "but it's what I want to start with, and I wanted to let that really sink in before I continued. I really screwed up."

She furrowed her brow and her confused expression begged the question. 'That's it?'

"I suppose you expect all to be forgiven now?" She asked, slightly more irritated.

"No," he told her. "I don't expect anything from you. I gave up any rights there when we broke up."

She nodded, pleasantly suspended.

"That's good," she admitted, "because it's going to take more than a song and an apology; as much as I want things to be okay between us again, I'm not there yet."

He nodded nervously.

The two of them sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"Kitty," he began again. "I'm not going to make excuses for what happened; all I can tell you is that I lost myself for a while. I saw New York as my chance to start over with a fresh start. I've learned a lot more about myself the last year and a half, and I've made a lot of mistakes. But the biggest mistake I made was turning my back on my best friend, lover, and honestly the only person outside of my family who always had my back. I am so sorry that I hurt you. I'm not expecting you to forgive me right away, but I do need you to know that I still care about you."

"I know," she admitted. "I still care about you too. I almost.. I don't know, wish I didn't... Maybe that's why this hurt so much."

He flinched almost in pain at this revelation.

"I wish I could take that hurt away. I really do," he told her, tears welling in his eyes.

"I know that too," she responded, feeling the tears herself. "But the wounds are so deep. You weren't just another boyfriend to me, Artie. I thought you were the love of my life."

"And now?" He prompted.

"I really don't know," she admitted, her voice cracking.

"For whatever it's worth," he admitted, "so did I."

"Then why did we break up?" She wanted to know, the tears beginning to flow.

His heart broke, knowing that he was responsible for her sadness. He reached out and took her hand and began to cry as well.

"At the time I didn't think it would be fair to you to delay what I saw as an inevitable breakup," he answered honestly. "It happened to literally every one of the Glee Club alumni. I thought that if we had a long drawn breakup, you'd grow to resent me."

"Artie," she told him, moving closer, "we are not them. I knew you were graduating in a few months when I chose to get into a relationship with you. Don't you think I should have had a say in whether I was willing to make the sacrifices that were needed to do long distance? Because I was. If I wasn't willing and didn't think it was worth it, I never would have gotten into a serious relationship with you in the first place."

"You're right," he admitted. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"I don't know either," she added.

"I'm so sorry," he plead. "It was so selfish and inconsiderate to you..."

They both sat there for a few moments until they had finished crying.

"But that's not even the worst of it," she continued, wiping away her tears. "The breakup was hard enough on me, but what I didn't count on is you exiting my life entirely. It stung when Sam, Blaine, and the others began to ignore those of us who were left behind, but before we started dating you and I were friends. For a long time you were my only friend in Glee Club. I never expected to lose my best friend too!"

"I'm sorry, okay," he added. "I understand that I hurt you, but did it even occur to you that I was hurting too? For the first month after I moved to New York I slept for 12 to 14 hours a day, and when I wasn't sleeping, I walked around in a daze.

"I didn't snap out of it until classes started in September."

Kitty thought about asking if he'd dated anyone in college once he snapped out of his funk, but decided that she really didn't want to know.

"One month is nothing, Artie!" she told him. "It took me SIX to get to the point where I wasn't thinking of you throughout the day, and crying myself to sleep at night."

Artie just sat there stunned. He had no idea it had been so hard on her.

"I had no idea..."

"Yeah... So please don't expect me to feel too sorry for you, okay? " she retorted.

"Okay," he concluded. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

"Yeah, it is," she wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily.

"I'm sorry," he said again, taking both hands this time. "I don't know what else I can say. But I will do literally anything it takes to make it up to you."

"Talk is cheap, Artie!" she told him. "Saying you're sorry isn't going to cut it. If you want to regain my trust, you're going to have to work to earn it back."

"I know," he said solemnly, nodding, "and I will."

The two of them sat there in silence for a long time.

"So where does this lead us?" She finally asked, wiping her tears.

"I don't know. Maybe we can try to start again as friends and leave it open to see where it leads," he suggested.

"Is that all that you want?" She asked, slightly disappointed. "To be friends?"

"No," he admitted. "I want things to be like they were before we broke up, but I know that I am going to need to work to regain your trust."

"I'd like that too," she confessed, "and yeah, you're right. As much as I want the same thing, I'm not ready yet."

The two of them shared a heartfelt embrace.

"I love you so much," he told her.

"I love you too," she admitted.

"And I'm so sorry I hurt you"

"I know."

# # # # #

Author's Endnote: So Kitty and Artie had the heart to heart conversation that RIB didn't care enough to give us. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. They didn't care enough to show us the breakup either.

You know the drill subscribe, favorite, and review if you want these stories to continue. After the crappy series finale I really need you guys' emotional support to have the energy to continue with these. Thanks!

[ Revised Text: September 2015 ]


	6. The Wedding Planner (6x06 - WTWN)

The Wildebrams Season Six

Chapter 6: The Wedding Planner (What The World Needs Now)

By Wilde Abrams

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay updating this. People who are more familiars with my stuff know that I'm not one to rush things. But it's pretty universally accepted that it's worth the wait.

To those who don't follow me on Twitter (at WildeAbrams), you don't need to worry about me going anywhere anytime soon or abandoning any of my other work. I'm not abandoning my fan fiction just because RIB gave us a crappy ending. Priority right now is these one shots to "fix" their screw up, along with Wedding Song, which was my priority before I got majorly inspired by Season Six. The rest will come in due course... Stay tuned!

Thanks again to Holly (MyGoldStar) for betaing this for me!

== Late Monday Afternoon, Brittany's Bedroom

When Artie finally left Kitty to be alone with her thoughts, he checked his phone and saw that he had a text from Brittany asking him to meet her at her house. After taking a few minutes to freshen up, he drove over to Brittany's parents' house. When he arrived she greeted him warmly. Then Brittany showed him into the house, as if it were his first visit, and led him to her bedroom.

This wasn't the first time that he had been in this particular house and this particular room, however. He and Brittany had dated for a while during his sophomore year, and it was Brittany who had taken his virginity in this very room. But, for some reason, Brittany seemed to have blocked this out and once again, she did not seem to remember that the two of them had even dated. He sighed and was just glad she didn't refer to him as part robot again.

Britney announced that she wanted to hire Artie - for free - to be the wedding planner for Santana's and her wedding. When he asked why she had chosen to bestow this particular honor on him, she reminded him that he hadn't had much to do that year, and that since he was a director that he might be able to help her bring her vision for the wedding to life. He enthusiastically agreed and invited her to pitch him.

She played a recording of Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'", a song she was planning to sing in Glee Club, to illustrate her point. After some discussion, the theme of "heaven" -"When I'm with Santana, it just feels like I'm in Heaven," she told him - seemed to be the frontrunner, followed by the much more random "underworld"; although Artie wasn't sure if Brittany was really serious about that one.

== Monday Evening, Artie's Bedroom

He left her house and began to think about the wedding. Being a wedding planner wasn't something that he'd ever considered before, that seemed to be more Kurt's forte, and he didn't know what all it would entail. But he did know that it would mean a lot of work.

That evening he began making his plans. He was going to have to recruit some help. He knew that he could count on the other alumni, but most of them would likely also be in the wedding party so he probably couldn't depend on much help from them on for wedding day itself. He also figured he could recruit Kitty and the new Glee kids if needed. They seemed like a nice group.

Artie lay in bed that night thinking about all of this when he started to think about Kitty again. If he was ever going to repair his relationship with her, he was going to have to find reasons to spend time with her, and the long hours of planning a wedding, being surrounded by all sorts of romantic things seemed just the opportunity that he needed. On the surface, Kitty didn't seem like the kind of girl to be that into weddings and romance, but he knew her well enough to know that deep down inside she had a "girly girl" side as well.

He smiled and pulled out his phone and began to google weddings.

== Noon Tuesday, WMHS Cafeteria

The following day he approached Kitty at lunch in the McKinley High cafeteria. She was sitting off to the side at a table with Spencer. The two of them seemed to be talking about cheerleading and football when Artie rolled up and asked, "Mind if I join you guys?"

"Sure," Spencer said.

"Not at all," Kitty nodded. He pulled up and sat his tray on the edge of the table next to Kitty and smiled cautiously.

"So, how have you two been today?" Artie asked, glancing around. "This place really hasn't changed very much."

"Just the people, and the food," Kitty told him. "Sue's gone all extreme healthy on the menu."

"We were just discussing last week's pep assembly, and how we hoped that we could maybe get the Glee Club involved in it next time," Spencer said. "From what I've heard there has been some past collaboration between the football team, cheerleaders and Glee Club."

"Yeah," Artie told him, "a few years back the Glee Club, football players, and several cheerleaders who were in Glee, all got together and did the halftime show for the state championship game. We did this awesome number that was a mashup of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's 'Our Heads Will Roll'. We were all dressed up and zombie make up. It was totally awesome!"

"That must've been some sight to see," Spencer grinned.

"Yeah, it was really cool. I'm pretty sure that it's in the New Direction's YouTube account if you want to take a look."

Kitty nodded and said, "Yes, actually it is," with a big smile. "I was just watching it the other day."

"Cool, man," Spencer said "I'll have to check it out. So, I just wanted to say that it's cool that all you alumni are here to help us out. How long are you planning to be around?"

"Well," he answered. "I believe Rachel and Kurt are here at least through the school year. Rachel is paying for it and running it at the superintendent's insistence. Kurt's using it for some work study/internship kind of thing."

"Rachel gave me her word that she would stay here long enough to see things through until Glee was back permanently," Kitty informed them.

Artie nodded. "As for the rest of us, it really varies by person. I'm here at least until Brittany and Santana's wedding in three weeks. Then I'm back to film school for a bit. But I'll be back when I can, until I'm confident you guys are comfortable, and Glee Club has regained its status as a permanent club."

"Artie's going to be a famous director someday," Kitty told Spencer proudly.

Spencer nodded and added, "You'll have to show me something you've done one of these days."

"Sure," Artie told him proudly.

Spencer looked at his watch and said, "Well, I've got a meeting with Coach Evans in a few minutes that I have to go to. I'll talk to you guys later."

Kitty and Artie nodded and watched as Spencer got up and left the room.

And then they were alone.

There was an awkward silence during which Artie briefly considered the possibility that Spencer had done that deliberately.

"So. what are you up to today?" Kitty asked him cautiously, breaking the silence.

"Well," he began, "I assume you know that Brittany and Santana are engaged?"

"Of course," Kitty told him. "The entire glee club and half the school are buzzing about it."

"Well, guess who got roped into being their wedding planner," he told her.

"You?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah," he answered.

"How did she do that?" She asked, curiously.

"Yesterday, after we talked, Brittany talked me into it by appealing to my vanity as a director and visionary," he told her with a sigh.

She nodded. Everyone who knew Brittany knew how hard it was to say no to her.

She furrowed her brow, and asked him if he needed any help.

He smiled at her and answered, "I was hoping you would ask me that."

She smiled back at him with a happy glint in her eyes.

Mission accomplished. He was looking forward to this.

# # # # #

Author's Endnote: there you have it! The next chunk of the story. Sorry it was so short, but this seemed like the best place to break it. The next part is going to be longer. Kitty begins to get suspicious of Mercedes' real reason for being there. Drama will of course ensue ... Stay tuned :-)

[ Revised Text: October 2015 ]


	7. To Mentor And To Guide (6x06 - WTWN)

The Wildebrams Season 6

Chapter 7: To Mentor And To Guide

By Wilde Abrams

Author's Notes: I'd like to start by apologizing for how long it's been since my last update. What started out as a period of funk after the end of Glee with the ending that none of us wanted, continued to expand after I realize that I was going to have to re-evaluate where the story was going.

I was fully expecting Kitty and Artie to get back together at the Brittana wedding. Everything we had seen between them in the episodes leading up to it, and the fact that Kevin wasn't in the episodes after that lead us to believe that to be the case. When that didn't happen, I stayed in a holding pattern with the story and kept watching to see what was going to happen. When we got the finale and Artie apparently ended up with Tina, and we don't know what happened to Kitty other than the fact that she went to New York after she graduated; I was left in an extended sense of funk for a couple of months and it was a struggle to write.

I had hoped that the Wildebrams Fic-A-Thon would help, but the general lack of interest there kinda made it worse. While we got a few great stories out of it, only a very few people participated. I've come to a slow realization that a lot of the people who shipped Wildebrams have either defected or lost interest.

But I made a promise that I would continue this story to the end, and that's something I intend to do. While this started out as a series of oneshots, I ultimately decided it would be better suited to being weaved into one long story. About a month or so ago I renamed the story from 'Wilde Abrams Season 6 One Shots', to simply 'Wildebrams Season 6'.

Along with that rebranding I went back through the previous chapters and made a few minor edits and updates. These were published last week. Other than the first one, which received a significant rewrite and expansion, it's nothing major; but you probably want to go back and read it from the beginning if you have read it before today. That being said, if you don't, you're still going to be able to follow the story just fine.

As of this writing I'm still working on the exact details of how the remainder of the season is going to go, but I do have the ending in mind and a general idea of how I want to get there. Yes Kitty and Artie will end up together in the end, although there will be some drama between here and there. I'll also be fixing a few other things that I did not like about the way things in Dreams Come True happened. Stay tuned for that.

If you haven't read my stand alone story Passion is Wonder-ful, you may want to take some time to do that, as some things in this chapter will make more sense if you do.

I've wasted enough time here with my author's notes, so without further ado here is the third installment from the episode What The World Needs Now.

# # # # # # # # # #

== Tuesday Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

Artie rolled into the choir room with Kitty at his side. This time he sat in the front row next to her, who once again sat on Spencer's left.

Rachel called the group together and and announced that it was time to start performing the songs for the week's assignments.

As none of the students were prepared yet, Santana announced that she and Brittany were ready to show off what they had come up with with some help from Artie. After Brittany whispered into the student accompanist's ear, she joined Santana and Artie in front of the group and they performed Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'"

[ Brittany with Santana ]

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'

Plannin' and dreamin' each night of her charms

[ Brittany ]

That won't get you into her arms

So if you're lookin' to find love you can share

Brittany and Santana danced around Artie's wheelchair.

[ Artie ]

All you gotta do is

[ Artie with Brittany and Santana ]

Hold her and kiss her and love her

And show her that you care

[ Artie and Brittany ]

Show her that you care just for her

Do the things she likes to do

Wear your hair just for her, cause

[ Artie and Santana ]

You won't get her

Thinkin' and a-prayin'

Wishin' and a-hopin'

Throughout the song Artie stole glances at Kitty, who tried to keep a straight face, but failed. Her cheeks turned a soft pink as she realized that while Brittany and Santana were singing to each other, Artie was clearly singing directly to her.

[ Artie with Brittany and Santana ]

Cause wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'

Plannin' and dreamin' her kisses will start

[ Artie (Brittany and Santana) ]

That won't get you into her heart (Ah-ooh)

[ Brittany ]

So if you're thinkin' of how great true love is

All you gotta do is

[ Brittany with Santana (Brittany) ]

Hold her and kiss her and squeeze her and love her

(Yeah, just) do it and after you do, you will be hers

Next to her, Spencer sat there covering his mouth, trying not to laugh, as she fidgeted in her seat. She gave him a dirty look, which only succeeded in making him laugh more. When that didn't work she swatted his shoulder.

[ Artie (Brittany and Santana) ]

You gotta show her that you care (Ooh-ooh)

Just for her (Ooh-ooh)

Do the things (Ooh-ooh)

She likes to do (Ooh-ooh)

Wear your hair (Ooh-ooh)

Just for her, cause (Ooh-ooh)

[ Santana ]

You won't get her

Thinkin' and a-prayin'

Wishin' and a-hopin'

[ Artie (Brittany and Santana) ]

Just wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'

Plannin' and dreamin' her kisses will start

[ Artie (Brittany and Santana) ]

That won't get you into her heart (Ah-ooh)

[ Brittany ]

So if you're thinkin' of how great true love is

All you gotta do is

[ Brittany with Artie and Santana (Brittany) ]

Hold her and kiss her and squeeze her and love her

(Yeah, just) do it and after you do, you will be hers

You will be hers, you will be hers

Roderick watched the performance politely, and Jane, Mason and Madison sat there looking confused.

As the song ended, the New Directions and their advisors began to applaud. Brittany and Santana grinned broadly, Brittany crossed her legs and curtsied. Artie smiled at Kitty.

Santana spoke up as the applause died down, "And that's how it's done kids. When you have enough experience singing with specific performers, you get to the point where you can practically read each others body language and thoughts. That little performance was put together in just under two hours."

Several of the New Directions gave her a surprised look.

"And the 'Problem' performance some of you saw us do with Quinn a few weeks ago only took about three," Artie added.

"This time seems like as good a time as any to let you know that now that the wedding planner is engaged," Santana announced, gesturing to Artie.

"I didn't know Artie was engaged," Madison whispered to her brother. "I wonder if Kitty knew?"

Mason shrugged.

"That Britts and I have finally set for date for our wedding," Santana continued, ignoring the twin Cheerios.

"It's two weeks from this Saturday," Brittany added. "We hope you can all join us in our celebration."

Everyone applauded, but Mason, Madison, and Roderick shared a glance, wondering why they were being invited to a wedding for someone they barely even knew.

== Tuesday Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

The first glee club members to perform were Kitty, Madison, and Jane, who performed Say A Little Prayer. The male glee club members, alumni advisors, and co directors sat and watched with interest.

[ Madison and Jane ]

Say a little prayer for you

[ Kitty (Madison and Jane) ]

The moment I wake up

Before I put on my make-up (Make-up)

I say a little (Prayer for you)

While combing my hair now

And wondering what dress to wear now (Wear now)

I say a little (Prayer for you)

[ Kitty with Madison and Jane ]

Forever, forever

You'll stay in my heart

And I will love you

Forever and ever

We never will part

Oh, how I love you

Together, together

That's how it must be

To live without you

(Madison and Jane: Would only mean)

Heartbreak for me

[ Kitty (Madison and Jane) ]

I run for the bus dear

While riding, I think of us dear (Us dear)

I say a little (Prayer for you)

At work, I just take time

"That song sounds familiar," Artie heard Brittany say.

"That's because it's the song Quinn made us do for our glee club audition, six years ago," Santana reminded her.

"Oh yeah, That's right! We performed that one so long ago it barely even feels like us singing," Brittany said.

The song finished and the girls received polite, but less than enthusiastic applause, and a concerned look from Mercedes.

Kitty turned her head away and scowled.

== Tuesday, Late Afternoon, WMHS Hallway

Later that afternoon, Mercedes was walking down the hall when she saw Kitty, Mason, and Madison chatting next to the locker that the twins shared.

"Hey y'all," she said. "Don't forget about our session tomorrow morning, just you guys and me."

The twins smiled broadly and mumbled confirmation, clearly excited about getting mentoring from someone with the number 89 rank on iTunes. Meanwhile Kitty turned to face Mercedes, and excused herself from for fellow Cheerios. She began to follow Mercedes down the hall.

"So," she said. "Who's going to be this time?"

"I don't follow," Mercedes said.

"Well when you were here last time you spent the most of your time working with Marley," she reminded her with a snotty tone, "and then just gave the rest of us some general pointers. I was just wondering who you're going to single out this time?"

"Kitty," Mercedes said. "Did it ever occur to you that I spent the most time with Marley because Marley needed my help the most? That girl was on the cusp of greatness! She just needed a little bit of confidence, and a few tips. You see confidence is my thing!"

Mercedes smiled.

Kitty didn't.

"I'm sorry if you feel that that was unfair, but when the alumni come back, it's our role to seek out and help the people who need the most help to improve the overall group performance. Marley needed some help with her vocal technique, but mostly what she needed help with confidence, and that my friend is something that you already have an spades, as you so aptly demonstrated when you sang that song for Artie."

"You didn't seem that impressed with the song at the time," Kitty reminded her.

"Kitty," Mercedes said, "All I said was that it wasn't ready for Nationals, and it wasn't, but I never said that it wasn't a good performance."

"You're damn right it was a good performance," Kitty told her. "I kicked that song's ass!"

Mercedes chuckled and admitted, "You did indeed!" remembering the younger woman's solo performance of 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm yours)' by Stevie Wonder.

"Actually," Mercedes said, putting her arm around the younger girl's shoulder. "I'm kind of glad we're talking because, I wanted to talk to you about something. Girl, I've been thinking that perhaps you're the one I need to be spending time with this time."

"What do you mean?" Kitty asked, confused. "We just agreed that I kicked that song's ass! I could do it again if I wanted to."

"Oh I have absolutely no doubt about your performance skills. From the little bit that I've seen this group interact and perform, it's pretty obvious that you're the New Rachel."

"The new what? Why the hell would we need a new Rachel? She's right here in the Choir room," Kitty responded in confusion.

Mercedes chuckled, remembering that Kitty had not joined glee club until after the fiasco that Sam had told her about the first week of School his senior year.

"Every glee club has one or two standout performers. When I was in school that was very clearly Rachel Berry, although it pains me to admit it, and Finn Hudson, Kurt, and I were close seconds.

"But part of the responsibility of filling that role is being a good leader to your fellow glee club members, something that Rachel always struggled with back in high school. She needed Finn to balance her out.

"Kitty you are very much the undisputed leader of this group. You're a triple threat. You're good at singing, at dancing, and at motivating people. That's why they wanted to recruit you so badly. Rachel told me how you helped her pick the setlist and motivate those young kids into working together as a team so that they could win Sue's invitational.

"One thing about having a Rachel Berry in our group is that it very much kept us on our toes pushing us to always do better; and I think that is something that your New Directions never really had, and probably factored into why you didn't win Nationals."

Kitty nodded. "Both Blaine and Sam thought they were leaders, but the group in general didn't follow them very well other than when Mr. Schue was out sick during Guilty Pleasures Week."

"Exactly," Mercedes said. "Blaine is too much of a self obsessed diva, worse than Rachel at times, to be a real leader; and Sam I love him to death, but Sam just isn't a natural leader he thought he was."

Kitty nodded.

"What we need from you is to try to set your own wishes and desires aside and think of what's best for the overall team. I said before that you're a triple threat, and sometimes it's tempting to want to hog the spotlight. But it's not always in the best interest of your team to do that. Sometimes that means that you'll be center stage and get the solo, but other times it will be best if you take a step back and support someone else while they get the chance to shine."

She nodded again. "I did that in All Out Of Love for the twins." But she knew she hadn't with "Say A Little Prayer" which was what Mercedes was getting at.

"Yeah," Mercedes said with a mischievous grin. "But somehow I suspect that had more to do with the words of the song reminding you of a certain someone-"

"-What is it with everyone's obsession with my relationship with Arthur?" She asked, irritated. "Our relationship is between the two of us and no one else!"

"We just know that you make each other happy," Mercedes answered honestly.

"We did. We did make eachother happy. But he broke up with me, and I know he's sorry and apologized for that, but it doesn't really change anything. He violated my trust and hurt me, and I'm not going to trust him the same way any time soon."

"Fair enough," Mercedes told her. "We've all been there."

== Late Tuesday Afternoon, WMHS Auditorium

That afternoon Glee was held in the auditorium. Up on stage Mercedes, Brittany, Santana, and Rachel were dressed in pink sequin 1960's era dresses, hair, and makeup.

Mercedes introduced it as "a little old-school inspiration." Mercedes sang lead vocals and Rachel and the others sang background to the song Baby It's You by the Shirelles, something Rachel called a "Motown girl group."

[ Brittany, Rachel, and Santana ]

Sha-la-la-la-la

Sha-la-la-la-la

Sha-la-la-la-la

[ Mercedes (Brittany, Rachel, and Santana) ]

(Sha-la-la-la-la)

It's not the way you smile that touched my heart

(Sha-la-la-la-la)

It's not the way you kiss that tears me apart

Oh, oh, oh, many, many nights roll by

I sit alone at home and cry over you

What can I do?

I can't help myself

Cause baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

(Sha-la-la-la-la)

You should hear what they say about you (Cheat, cheat)

They say, they say you never, never, never been true (Cheat, cheat)

Uh-oh

[ Mercedes with Brittany, Rachel, and Santana harmonizing ]

Doesn't matter what they say

I know I'm gonna love you any old way

What can I do when it's true?

I don't want nobody, nobody

[ Mercedes (Brittany, Rachel, and Santana) ]

Cause baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Baby, baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

(Cheat, cheat)

(Sha-la-la-la-la)

(Cheat, cheat)

Uh, oh, many, many nights roll by

I sit alone at home and cry over you

What can I do?

I can't help myself

Cause baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Don't leave me alone (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Come on home (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Baby, baby, it's you (Sha-la-la-la-la)

Baby, it's you

The song finished to a round of applause and Kitty listened to the group talking on stage.

"Thank you, Mercedes," Rachel said

"Hey, even mentors need mentors," Mercedes reassured her.

"I appreciate it," Rachel told her. "And you're right, I do miss New York."

What the hell? Kitty thought from her seat in the front row.

"I think about being in my dressing room and listening to the crowd settling in..." Rachel continued, shaking her head. "But I just I can't. I can't do it."

Something fishy was going on Kitty thought, and she was determined to figure out what it was.

== Tuesday, Late Afternoon, WMHS Auditorium Backstage Area

That afternoon during Glee Club it was Sam's turn to perform. As before Kitty sat between Artie and Spencer.

[ Sam ]

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me

They long to be

Close to you

Why do stars fall down from the sky

Every time you walk by?

Just like me

They long to be

Close to you

On the day that you were born

And the angels got together

And decided to create a dream come true

So they sprinkled moon dust

In your hair of gold

And starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the boys in town

Follow you all around

Just like me

They long to be

Close to you

On the day that you were born

And the angels got together

And decided to create a dream come true

So they sprinkled moon dust

In your hair of gold

And starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the boys in town

Follow you all around

Just like me

They long to be

Close to you

Just like me

They long to be

Close to you

Aah, aah, aah, ooh yeah

Close to you

Aah, aah, aah

Aah aah aah

Oh, close to you

As Kitty watched the performance she couldn't help notice that Sam was directing his performance directly at a noticeably uncomfortable Mercedes. Kitty, of course, knew that Mercedes and Sam had dated in the past. But she also knew that if social media was to be believed, Mercedes was happily dating a Christian music singer whose name slipped her mind at the moment. It looked as though Sam was making a play to get back with his ex, and judging from the uncomfortable looks on the faces of the new kids, she wasn't the only one who noticed.

== Tuesday After School, The Lima Bean

Kitty pulled up in front of The Lima Bean in her car. After she put the car in park she paused for few moments wondering if she had made the right decision agreeing to help Artie with the wedding planning.

Although she would never admit it, Kitty, like most girls had been planning the details of her own wedding in the back of her head since she was little. Although she was mad at them for a while, Brittany and Santana were her friends and she was happy to do whatever she could to help make their wedding day special.

Unfortunately, that meant also having to spend a great deal of time with her ex. Things between them were better since their sit down chat the other day, but she still harbored some upset feelings towards him because no matter how much she might try to deny it, the memory of their breakup still stung her like a jellyfish when she allowed herself to think so it.

She sighed, open the door and went into the establishment. She spotted Artie off in the corner with his laptop. She waved at him and went to order her drink at the counter before joining him.

"You did a great job this morning with your song," Artie told her.

"Really?" She asked in disbelief. "I'm not sure Mercedes thinks so."

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Afterward she and I were talking and she gave me this speech about a leader needing to take a backseat to the members of their team sometimes. Yeah, she thinks I'm the leader." She rolled her eyes.

"Well she has a point," Artie told her. "And you pretty obviously are the leader." Kitty gave him a confused look. "Rachel told me about how you helped her last week, and from what I can tell from watching things, they all clearly look up to you.

"The fact is, if glee hadn't been canceled, you would almost certainly have been captain last year too," he told her.

She furrowed her brow, and responded, "You have got to be kidding?"

"Not at all," he informed her. "There were only 5 members who weren't graduating. Marley was definitely a great singer but she lacked confidence and charisma to motivate others. Jake had both in spades, but he also had a poor attitude and focus at times. Ryder lacked focus and wasn't as strong a performer. Unique, well I suppose she could have done it, but I don't think the others would have respected her as much as a leader.

"You were one of the strongest overall performers in the group. You were strong at both singing and choreography, which not a lot of people are. Yes you pushed people away with your snark, but when it was time to get to work, you got serious. You tended to push us till we got better. You have a boatload of charisma, and you have all that leadership experience from Cheerios."

"I see," she said, clearly not thinking that way before.

"My advice," he told her, "is to do another number, possibly with the whole group this time, and make sure that Mercedes can tell that you are having the other members of the group featured."

She noded and smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem," he responded, reminding her of one of the reasons she fell in love with him. He always seemed to be supporting her in some way, something she didn't have a lot of experience with before.

After a few moments of silence, she broke it by saying, "Why don't you show me your wedding plans so far.

He smiled, noded, and turned the laptop screen so she could see it.

"Well, it sounds like the them is going to be 'Heaven'..."

== Early Wednesday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

The following morning Mercedes entered the choir room where the new New Directions were gathered. Mason, Madison, Spencer, Roderick, Jane, and Kitty.

"Okay everyone," Mercedes began, "I'm a mentor not a teacher so I want you all on your feet so I'm looking at you not down on you." She gestured for them to all get up and join her around for piano.

"As I told Kitty yesterday, my role here is to give you all some individual mentoring and as much as I'd love to spend time with each of you individually, we don't really have the time to do that to a significant degree, but what I can do is give you all some general performance tips.

"I took the opportunity to view the videos of your Invitational and from Jagged Little Tapestry week. You guys were good, but you didn't really take any risks, which I think is holding you back from being great.

"How many of you have taken a look at the New Directions YouTube account?" She asked. Mason, Jane, and of course Kitty held up their hands. "Good, I'd suggest the rest of you do the same thing at your earliest opportunity. Artie's managed to tape or secure recordings of virtually all of our competitions, and the vast majority of our performances here. There is a lot to learn from, all in one place there.

"First of all I want you to get past an illusions that you may have that being in a show choir is any different from any team sport. It's Not. As Kitty can tell you, our former coach Mr. Schue, regularly reminded us that we were a team."

Kitty smiled and noded.

"Just like in football and cheerleading, it is absolutely vital that you get to know each other VERY well, so that you can play to your collective strengths and you can predict what each of your teammates will do. That will help you immeasurably when learning songs and choreography.

"Every performer has his or her own strengths and example, I am an accomplished vocalist and when I was in glee club my specialty was 'park and bark' because i struggled with choreography. I've gotten better over the years, but it's still something that I struggle with sometimes.

"All of you are going to have to figure out when each other's strengths and weaknesses are. During competition you should try to play into your strengths and downplay your weaknesses. But that's not always possible, so just like in sports you should each work to improve on those weaker areas. That's something we spent a great deal of time working on when I went here.

"I don't know you guys all that we'll yet, but I'm just going to put out there that if there is anyone on this room whom you don't like or have issues getting along with, then you need to put that aside. Nothing is more important than the music and the performance. The New Directions, when I was in high school, had internal drama that you would not believe, but we never let it interfere with our performance."

"You mean the way the alumni keep making glee club about them instead of about us?" Jane asked sarcastically.

Kitty gave her a dirty look.

Mercedes just pursed her lips, because she knew that the girl had a point but didn't want to get into it now, and continued.

"Anyway, your basic vocal technique is the foundation that everything else is built on. If you don't sound good, nothing else matters. The most fundamental pieces of advice that I can give you is to make sure to maintain proper breath control and support it from your diaphragm.

"Madison, care to give it a try?" She asked.

"Whoah..." the younger girl let loose, but the note flated too soon as she ran out of breath.

Several people chuckled. Her brother put his arm around her for support.

"Okay that was good," Mercedes said, unconvincingly, "but Kitty care to show her how it's done?"

Kitty smiled and belted out, "Here I am! Signed, Sealed, Delivered. I-I-I'm Yooouuuuirs!"

Most of the group smiles and applauded. Jane got an irritated look and crossed her arms in front of her chest because she was tired of Kitty being their teacher's favorite all the time. First Rachel and now Mercedes.

"That was great!" Mercedes told her. "See what she did there? Correct posture: Back straight, ribs expanded, shoulders squared, throat relaxed. She used her diaphragm to support drawing her breath instead of pushing it out. Thanks Kitty."

Kitty smiled and noded.

"After that is chemistry. Mason and Jane, you two oozed chemistry in your "Would You Still Love Me Tomorrow/Head Over Feet" duet last week. But Kurt was right, the lack of even the simplest choreography killed the performance."

They noded in agreement. As irritated as she was, Jane knew she was right.

"Which brings it to the next piece," Mercedes continued. "You need to actually be doing something with your bodied and facial expressions. If your audience just stares at you, they are going to get bored.

"I understand that you didn't have a lot of time to prepare for the invitational so you went back to basics, and that worked for you, but don't expect to get away with that for sectionals. You need to begin preparing ASAP, and have to go all out if you want to win."

Jane got a self satisfied and vindicated look on her face. Seeing this, Kitty turned away and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"The next important thing is to make your performance visually interesting so your audience doesn't get bored. That's done through both choreography, and costuming.

"Do you have a costume committee yet?" They shook their heads. "Well you are going to need one. I'd begin putting one together ASAP. There are still a lot of things around here from the old days, but you're going to need things that fit properly and that are more timely so I wouldn't depend on that too much."

"May I say something?" Jane finally said. "I get that all of you are trying to help us, and we all appreciate it, but why is it that you keep pointing to her," she gestured to Kitty, "as the example of what to do and what not to do." Kitty got an offended look on her face. "First Rachel, and now you. We were ALL supposed to get a say the performances. There is more than one way to do things, and-"

Kitty open her mouth to say something snarky, but Mercedes held up her hand to silence her.

"Yes Jane," Mercedes responded. "There isn't necessarily a right or wrong way to do things in performing to entertain an audience, but there are certain things that work for you or against you with a competition audience and judges, and that's definitely something that you're lucky you have Kitty for. She can definitely help you prevent a major mistake that could cost you a performance."

"No offense," Jane said, "but didn't her New Directions loose Sectionals AND Nationals?"

"How do you loosed sectionals and nationals?" Roderick wanted to know.

"Your competition cheats and gets disqualified," Kitty answered matter of factly. "Look, newbies, we lost because we made some of those mistakes. But if you listen to Rachel and I, WE won't!"

"Every generation of the New Directions had made mistakes in competition," Mercedes told them. "Google "the kiss that missed" for a huge one."

"What about the diaphragm exercises?" Jane asked. "I could have done just as well as her."

"I never said that you couldn't," Mercedes told her. "But I just met all of you. I already knew Kitty from two years ago, and knew that she could show you what I was looking for. It's nothing personal."

That seems to satisfy Jane, but she clearly wasn't happy about it.

"Two years ago," Mercedes continued, "I told her generation of New Directions that the reason that they lost sectionals was fear. Their performance of Gangnam Style, while okay, was rather boring and they didn't really take any risks with it. It was choreography heavy, but musically boring and there was no real individuality to it.

"You need to be willing to take risks not only with choreography, but also vocally. I haven't heard any vocal runs or ad libbing from any of you, and I know you're more than capable.

"Look to Kitty and her experience, but don't be afraid to shine yourselves because you will be the senior members next year."

Kirty tried her best to suppress the smirk on her face as Mercedes complemented her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam watching them through the window. Clearly she was right and he was still smitten with Mercedes.

The mentoring session went on for another half hour or so with Mercedes having each of them sing something and the rest of them offering feedback. Fortunately it was relatively drama free.

== Mid Thursday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

Artie, sat in the choir room with Kurt, and the male members of the New Directions were going over some sheet music when Mercedes rushed in.

"Sorry to break up your boy time, boys," she told them. "But we have a crisis, and I need to recruit you guys."

They all gathered around Mercedes to hear what she had to say.

"It's Rachel. Now, we all know that she needed to come back here and lick her wounds, and I think it's great that she got the glee club up and running again." Kurt cleared his throat in annoyance. "And you're doing a great job, too, Kurt," she added, "with, you know, whatever your thesis is.

"But what I do know is Rachel's destiny is bigger than this place. And it's not just that she's scared to try again, it's almost like she's forgotten that."

"- Yeah, but how are we", Spencer responded before being interrupted by Roderick.

"- How are?" They glared at each other.

"- How are we supposed to remind her?" Roderick finished.

" - Yeah?" Spencer added.

"Well, we have to make her homesick," Mercedes answered simply.

"But isn't she home now?" Mason asked.

"We need to make her homesick for New York. It's where she belongs. Artie is already in," Artie noded, Mercedes and he had talked earlier over brunch, "and I put in a call to Blaine. I'm sorry if that's awkward for you, Kurt. But if you guys will follow me."

She gestured for them to follow her.

"Okay," Spencer responded

"Yeah," Roderick mumbled.

Kurt silently rose to his feet and followed the group out of the room. The look on his face was one of trepidation almost as if he were on his way to his execution.

None of them noticed Kitty standing at a locker outside of the choir room door with a confused look on her face. She knew in her gut that something was up when Mercedes arrived. But, no amount of flattery was going to distract her from saving the glee club.

== Thursday Afternoon, WMHS Auditorium

Later that afternoon Kitty was understandably curious as she sat in her seat in the auditorium and listened in on what was going on. When she texted him about it, Artie told Kitty that she was recruiting them to sing Rachel another song to help her get her confidence back.

Kitty watched Mercedes lead Rachel into the auditorium and the two of them sat down.

The guys were all up on stage and dressed in formal-wear complete with top hats. Blaine was seated at a different looking piano than normal, and the stage and background were decorated in a decidedly New York theme.

"Mercedes," Kitty heard Rachel plead as she saw the stage. Clearly she felt she had better things to do.

"I told you I came here to mentor and to guide," Mercedes told her sighing, "New York is endgame for you, Rachel. It just is. You know, sometimes you need a little bit of inspiration to remind you and light the way."

Mercedes lead Rachel to a seat in one or the front rows. Kitty, Madison, Jane were already seated, along with Santana and Brittany.

Blaine began to play Christopher Cross's "Arthur's Theme"

[ Blaine ]

Once in your life you find her

Someone that turns your heart around

And next thing you know you're closing down the town

[ Artie ]

Wake up and it's still with you

Even though you left her way across town

Wondering to yourself "Hey, what've I found?"

[ Roderick with Alumni and New Directions Boys (Roderick) ]

When you get caught between the Moon and New York City

(I know it's crazy but it's true)

If you get caught between the Moon and New York City

(The best that you can do

The best that you can do is fall in love)

[ Mason ]

Arthur, he does as he pleases

All of his life, he's mastered choice

And, deep in his heart, he's just, he's just a boy

[ Spencer ]

Living his life one day at a time

He's showing himself a really good time

He's laughing about the way they want him to be

[ Blaine with Mason, Alumni and New Directions Boys (Blaine) ]

When you get caught between the Moon and New York City

(I know it's crazy but it's true)

If you get caught between the Moon and New York City

[ Blaine ]

The best that you can do

(Spencer with Alumni and New Directions Boys: The best that you can do)

The best that you can do is fall in love

[ Artie with Mason, Alumni and New Directions Boys ]

When you get caught between the Moon and New York City

[ Spencer ]

I know it's crazy but it's true

[ Artie with Mason, Alumni and New Directions Boys: ]

If you get caught between the Moon and New York City

[ Artie ]

The best that you can do (Blaine: The best that you can do)

The best that you can do (Blaine: Is fall in love)

[ Roderick with Mason, Alumni and New Directions Boys: ]

When you get caught between the Moon and New York City

[ Artie ]

Oh, I know it's crazy but it's true

[ Roderick with Mason, Artie, Alumni and New Directions Boys ]

If you get caught between the Moon and New York City

[ Artie ]

The best that you can do (Spencer: The best that you can do)

[ Blaine ]

The best that you can do

[ Artie with Blaine ]

Is fall in love

The song ended and there was applause.

Blaine approached Rachel and Mercedes, cleared his throat and asked, "So, what did you think?"

"Look, you guys, uh, despite your valiant effort, I just, I'm not ready to go back," Rachel said.

"Well," Mercedes told her. "I am not leaving until you are."

"What the hell?" Kitty mumbled. That's why she's here? To lure Rachel away? She stared at Mercedes, giving her the evil eye before turning her head away again, fuming.

== Late Thursday Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

Kitty had finally decided to confront Mercedes about her real intentions. Mercedes was looking through some sheet music in the choir room when Kitty strode in.

She looked up and saw the younger woman entered and greeted her with a smile, "Kitty, I've been meaning to -"

"-What are doing here?" Kitty asked, with more force than was needed, but knowing Kitty's personality, Mercedes seemed to take it all in stride.

"I was just looking through some Burt Bacharach songs for this week's lesson -"

"Why are you back at McKinley?" She clarified.

This time Mercedes definitely noticed the forcefulness of the question. She pursed her lips, but chose not to respond to it.

"Like I said when I got here," she responded calmly, "I'm here to mentor all of you and help you prepare for sectionals."

"Then why are you trying to get Rachel to abandon us?"

Mercedes gave her a confused look.

"We we still need her! We're nowhere near ready for sectionals, let alone regionals or nationals. She promised me! She gave me her word that she wouldn't abandon us like everyone else did! She promised me that if I came back, we would see this through to the end together! Now, not even a week later, you're trying to get her to leave us?"

"Sweetie, what are you talking about?" Mercedes asked, confused.

"I know about the Broadway play audition," Kitty informed her.

"How...?"

"I have my sources."

"Artie-"

"-Don't bring Arthur into this, just because we dated. I've survived Sue Sylvester's regime here at McKinley by being resourceful. It doesn't matter how I know. The point is that I do know."

"Kitty did you honestly expect Rachel to stay here the whole life?" The older woman asked.

"Of course not," Kitty told her. "We all know that the stage is her true calling and destiny or whatever, but she gave me her word, and I accepted it when I decided to rejoin glee club. I knew it wouldn't be forever, but I expected a lot more than just a week! And I know this isn't a career for her, especially since she doesn't even have a teaching degree. But we need more time and it's not right for you to be urging her to abandon us so soon!"

"Kitty," Mercedes said putting her arm around the young woman who shirked it off. "Rachel is having a lot of issues with confidence right now, and the longer it is before she gets up onstage again the harder it's going to be for her to do it. I think it's admirable what she's doing here helping you guys with glee club, and that's why you have other alumni and I here to help. But Rachel is also our friend and we're not being very good friends if we don't encourage her to embrace her destiny and chase her dream.

"She failed big time. Everybody knows it. But one failure shouldn't define her, and right now it seems like it is. Back in high school I had my share of confidence issues as well, and she helped me with them on more than one occasion. Right now I am just returning the favor.

"I promise you that we're not going to leave you high and dry. This audition is a long-shot for her, but she needs to get her name out there again, and she needs the confidence that a successful audition will get her. It's very unlikely she's going to get this role, but even if she did the alumni are not going to just abandon glee club like we did a year and a half ago. On that you got MY word!

"You better not!" Kitty said bitterly and stormed off.

# # # # # # # # # #

Author's Endnotes: So what did everyone think of the next chapter? Hopefully it was worth the wait. Up next is Chapter 8: The Meaning of Family, followed by Chapter 9: The Engagement Party, all from What The World Needs Now. Beginning with Chapter 10 we move into Transitioning for 2-3 Chapters and then of course, the wedding episodes which will also be 2-3 chapters.

As you can see there is a lot more coming. The more reviews and favorites I receive the more motivated I am to write. Don't forget to subscribe so you are notified as soon as new chapters are available, and if you haven't already, check out my website WildeAbrams dot com and follow me on Twitter at WildeAbrams.


	8. The Meaning of Family (6x06 - WTWN)

The Wildebrams Season Six:

Chapter 8: The Meaning of Family

By Wilde Abrams

Author's Notes: Thank again for all of the support with this project and for the reviews, favorites, and story/author subscriptions. It means a lot!

I've been getting a lot of people of people asking me what my plans are for this story. I don't want to give too much away, but in general here are some things that you can expect:

* The story follows season 6 as we saw it with very few changes. So, yes Dalton still burns to the ground and the Warblers join the New Directions, and no the old newbies won't be back to save the day in the second semester.

* This doesn't mean that I have ruled out any of the missing ones (Marley, Ryder, Jake) appearing, but it needs to be the right story. I'm not writing them in just to have them there.

* Brittana and Klaine still share a wedding, but at least one special someone who was conspicuously absent in the episode will appear in my version.

* In light of Mark Salling being arrested for possession of child pornography on December 30, some may wonder about my plans for Puck. I hadn't planned to use him much anyway, and I don't see much changing there. He and Quinn were obviously broken up at the Brittana wedding and he was back to his old cougar chasing ways.

* It's important that you understand that this is my attempt to fix the worst parts of season six, but it's NOT my vision of how it should have ended for our favorite characters. For that you will need to read Wedding Song and eventually Homecoming.

* It frankly isn't realistic for so many high school couples to stay together after graduation, let alone stay together happy long term. So there may be some changes in endgame pairings and some fan favorite couples may not suddenly get a reconciliation in my version. Again I don't want to say much because in some cases I haven't decided yet. I do work from an outline, but sometimes things changed as I write.

* There will be some new material added between We Built This Glee Club and Dreams Come True. How much remains to be decided.

* Cannon will diverge at some point during Dreams Come True. Most of the ending changes I make will have to do with Kitty and Artie, but Tina, Mike, Rachel, Sam, and some of the others will also be affected.

Thanks again for all of the support, and I hope you like the next chapter. Sorry it's taken so long to post this. It's been done for quite a while now, but I was stuck on the next one with the engagement party and am sticking to my rule about having at least one chapter ahead finished before publishing the next one.

== Friday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

Kitty had inwardly fumed about what Mercedes had done with Rachel all evening, but it was too late to do anything about it. Rachel was already on a plane to New York. Instead she focused her energies on the lesson for the week.

When the new New Directions performed That's What Friends Are For, by Dionne Warwick, Kitty decided to take Artie's advice and make sure all of the other members were featured.

[ Kitty ]

And I never thought I'd feel this way

And as far as I'm concerned

I'm glad I got the chance to say

[ Kitty and Spencer ]

That I do believe, I love you

[ Spencer ]

And if I should ever go away

Well, then close your eyes and try

To feel the way we do today

[ Kitty and Spencer ]

And then if you can remember

[ New New Directions ]

Keep smiling, keep shining

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

That's what friends are for

For good times and bad times

I'll be on your side forever more

That's what friends are for

[ Kitty ]

Well, you came in loving me

And now there's so much more I see

And so by the way

I thank you

Kitty discreetly glanced at Artie.

[ Mason ]

Oh and then for the times when we're apart

[ Mason and Madison ]

Well, then close your eyes and know

The words are coming from my heart

[ Madison ]

And then if you can remember

[ Jane ]

Keep smiling and keep shining

[ Roderick ]

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

[ New New Directions ]

That's what friends are for

[ Jane ]

In good times and bad times

[ Roderick ]

I'll be on your side forever more

[ New New Directions ]

That's what friends are for

[ Kitty ]

Keep smiling, keep shining

[ Spencer ]

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

[ Madison ]

That's what friends are for

[ Mason ]

For good times and bad times

[ Jane ]

I'll be on your side forever more

[ Roderick ]

That's what friends are for

[ New New Directions ]

Keep smiling, keep shining

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

'Cause I tell you, that's what friends are for

For good times and the bad times

I'll be on your side forever more

That's what friends are for

When the group finished, Kitty glanced over at Mercedes and Artie, both of whom were smiling, and Mercedes gave her the 'okay' hand symbol.

Kitty returned the smile.

== Early Friday Afternoon, WMHS Auditorium

Along with the rest of the Glee club members and Alumni, Kitty was asked to come to sing backup when Santana sang the Burt Bacharach song Alfie in a last ditch effort to get her grandmother to accept her lifestyle and agree to come to the wedding. Apparently Brittany had somehow lured the older woman there.

Kitty was staged behind Artie during the number and regarded him sitting there in his chair. She had forgotten how much she missed performing with him. Back when he was still a student there, she was often paired with him during performances.

When Santana began to sing the house lights were on her and the rest of them were concealed in the shadows behind a thin curtain.

[ Santana ]

What's it all about, Alfie?

Is it just for the moment we live?

What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?

Are we meant to take more than we give?

Or are we meant to be kind?

And if only fools are kind, Alfie

Then I guess it is wise to be cruel

And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie

What will you lend on an old golden rule?

After the first verse of the song the back curtain began to rise, Brittany joined them onstage from where she had been sitting with Santana's grandmother to support her fiance, and they all began to sing along with the song.

[ Santana with Alumni and New Directions vocalizing ]

As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie

I know there's something much more

Something even non-believers can believe in

[ Santana (Alumni and New Directions) ]

I believe in love, Alfie (Alfie)

Without true love we just exist, Alfie

[Santana with Alumni and New Directions vocalizing ]

Until you find the love you've missed you're nothing

[ Santana with New Directions and Alumni ]

Alfie

[ Santana (Alumni and New Directions) ]

When you walk let your heart lead the way

And you'll find love any day, Alfie (Alfie)

Alfie

As the song finished, Brittany walked over to Santana, kissed her on the cheek, and then helped her grandmother up the stairs onto the stage.

After they exchanged a few awkward pleasantries, Brittany explained that Santana was her fiance. The older woman was understandably upset at being deceived. Brittany and Santana responded by talking about their love for eachother, and Santana for her grandmother. They explained how important she was and how much it would mean for her to be there.

Unfortunately Santana's grandmother wasn't receptive to the message and clung to her religious convictions despite her love for her grand daughter. In a last ditch effort, Brittany tried to shame her and tell her off. But that didn't work either.

After forcing her granddaughter to choose between Brittany and her, she was sad to find out that Santana chose Brittany.

After that, she walked out, leaving everyone in sad silence.

== Friday Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

Kitty was walking down the hall when she saw Rachel smiling and with a spring in her step. Kitty had calmed down considerably, but still couldn't resist the temptation to confront her and followed her into the choir room office.

"So," she began, "how did it feel to be back up on the big stage again?" She asked the question with noticeable snark and sarcasm.

"Kitty," she responded, "um..."

Clearly she hadn't expected Kitty to know where she'd gone.

"I hope you know that I'm still holding you to our agreement," Kitty reminded her. The previous week Rachel had promised to stay as long as necessary to help her get the glee club back up and running permanently.

Rachel lay her bag down on her desk and walked into the choir room proper.

"I haven't forgotten, Kitty," Rachel reassured her. "This wasn't about the role, it was about proving something to myself that I've still got the confidence and ability to perform."

Kitty noded and followed her over to the piano.

"But to answer your question," Rachel told her. "It felt great!" She smiled. "Ever since That's So Rachel, I've been walking around in a funk. But getting up on that stage did something, something inside me clicked and brought me out of it!"

Rachel turned around and faced her. Kitty met her gaze and after a few moments her hard look was gone and the two shared a smile.

"In that case, I'm sorry I missed it," the younger woman told her.

Rachel got a glint in her eye. She pulled out her phone, selected a song, lay it on the piano and began to sing and danced around the room.

[ Rachel ]

Promises, promises

I'm all through with promises, promises now

I don't know how I got the nerve to walk out

If I shout, remember I feel free

Now I can look at myself and be proud

I'm laughing out loud

Oh, promises, promises

This is where those promises, promises end

I don't pretend that what was wrong can be right

Every night I'll sleep now, no more lies

Things that I promised myself fell apart

But I found my heart

Oh, promises, their kind of promises,

can just destroy a life

Oh, promises, those kind of promises,

take all the joy from life

Oh, promises, promises,

my kind of promises

Can lead to joy and hope and love

Yes, love

Every night I sleep now, no more lies

Things that I promised myself fell apart

But I found my heart

Oh, promises,

their kind of promises can just destroy a life

Oh, promises,

those kind of promises take all the joy from life

Oh, promises, promises, my kind of promises

Can lead to joy and hope and love

Yes, love

When the song was over, the two women shared a brief hug.

A few moments later Mercedes and Sam walked into the room and Kitty excused herself.

== Late Friday Afternoon, WMHS Hallway

Kitty walked down the hallway and saw the other glee club members chatting next to a locker.

"I don't understand why they keep expecting us to do things for them," Spencer said.

"Yes," Jane chimed in. "We're the new New Directions, not the 'alumni support group'! We should be spending our time recruiting new members and practicing for sectionals."

"And I get that they are trying to be nice and all," Roderick added, "but I still don't understand why we are invited to a wedding for two people we barely even know."

"You guys still don't get it," Kitty said, choosing that moment to chime into the conversation. "The New Directions are more than just a glee club. We are one giant, often dysfunctional, multi generational extended family, and you're a part of it now. Congrats!" She gave them a devilish grin.

They gave her a set of confused looks.

"Something happens to you when you go through all of the things that you do as a member of this club during the weekly lessons, competitions, and other performances," she continued. "It causes a deep bond that last a lifetime.

"It doesn't matter if you're a cheerleader, jock, chubber, geek, nerd, gay or straight, lifelong member or transfer student, or have an unusually close relationship with your sibling. You may even hate each other outside of the choir room. But the love of music and performance unites us. We would all literally drop anything to help each other.

"Even when you go out into the world you still have that invisible connection to the members and the club itself. When I was a member the first time, all of the people who were here during Homecoming Week, but had already graduated, came back at least once to help us out. All it took was one phone call from Rachel to bring them all running back to help her with the recruitment drive."

"You didn't seem so excited about rejoining that day on the football field," Mason pointed out.

"You're right," Kitty admitted. "When it was canceled 16 months ago it was very painful for all of us involved. Some chose to leave and try to forget about it, with varying levies or success. Other of us, like me, just harbored deep resentment for a long time.

"It took a very special person to get me to snap out of it-"

"You didn't seem to happy to see Artie that day," Madison pointed out.

"Not Artie, Rachel," Kitty corrected her. "I barely knew her, but she and I came to an understanding last week.

"You guys are the newest generation of this huge, and often dysfunctional family, and it will be up to you to maintain the tradition once I graduate," she told them. "It's a responsibility that I expect you to take seriously, or I'll be coming back to kick you in the butts because, I'll be damned if I let this be the last generation of this awesome legacy!"

They smiled, finally starting to understand.

"And all of the things we have been doing this week WILL help us win sectionals because it's helping bond is as a team.

"Now," she continued, "in that spirit, there is something that I need to talk to you all about..."

== Friday After School, WMHS Auditorium

Brittany and Santana walked into the auditorium arm in arm for what was supposed to be a surprise.

The new kids were lined up to greet them.

"May I escort you to your seats?" Spencer asked, offering his arm, as a gentlemanly escort.

"Mmm, you may," Brittany responded, giggling. The girls linked arms and then Santana took his.

"Hello," Santana greeted Jane, who smiled at her.

"Hi," She said to Roderick.

"Good evening," Roderick said.

"So fancy," Santana commented

"I know," Roderick responded.

"Hi," she greeted Madison

"Hi," Madison greeted them.

"These are your seats, ladies," Spencer told them when they reached a designated spot near the middle of one of the front rows.

"Oh, thank you," Santana responded.

"Thanks," Brittany said, laughing. "Yay."

As they took their seats, Artie rolled out of the shadows.

"Welcome, guests of honor," Artie addressed them from the stage. "Now, as your wedding planner, I need to warn you about a major crisis regarding the wedding reception."

Santana gave Britney a worried glance.

"Since Santana's grandmother is no longer attending," Arrie continued, "such a shame! There is now an empty seat at the Lopez family table. And I don't know what to do about it.

"The problem isn't removing a chair;" Santana gave Britney a confused look as he continued. "The problem is adding chairs, because several other members of Santana's family want that spot."

Mr. Schue, Rachel, Sam, Kurt, Blaine, and Kitty stepped out of the shadows.

Santana smiled.

"Family," Kurt told them, "are the people who embrace you with open arms no matter what."

"They can see the pain in your eyes even when you're fooling everyone else," Blaine added.

"Family's about laughing louder, smiling bigger and living better," added Mr. Schue

"Family's like fudge," Sam chimed in, smiling. "It's mostly sweet, with a couple of nuts."

Brittany covered her face in her hand disguising her smile. Santana got an even more confused look.

"And although we're not related by blood," Mercedes said, "we are bonded by something much stronger: love."

"It might be a little presumptuous," Rachel chimed in, "but we would like to be in your wedding party."

Santana smiled, finally starting to get it.

"And the new kids and I would be honored to cater, pass out programs and release the doves," Kitty added.

"There had better be doves," she told Artie.

"Oh, there will be," he assured her.

"Santana and Brittany, this is for you." Mercedes continued. "We love you."

They began to sing the Jackie DeShannon song "What The World Needs Now" backed by the band.

[ Mercedes ]

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It's the only thing that there's just too little of

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

[ Rachel ]

No, not just for some but for everyone

[ Artie (with Kurt) ]

Lord, we don't need another mountain

There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb

(There are oceans and rivers enough to cross)

[ Will (with Kurt) ]

Enough to last (til the end of time)

[ Blaine with Alumni and New Directions ]

Til the end of time

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

[ Rachel ]

It's the only thing that there's

[ Kurt and Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

Just too little of

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

No, not just for some but for everyone

[ Will ]

Lord, we don't need another meadow

There are corn fields and wheat fields

Enough to grow

[ Sam ]

There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine

[ Blaine with Rachel, Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

Oh, listen lord, if you want to

[ Blaine and Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

Know

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will (Mercedes) ]

What the world (What the world)

Needs now (Needs now)

Is love, sweet love (Love, sweet love)

It's the only thing that there's (There's just)

Just too little of (Too little of)

[ What the world needs now (What the world needs now) ]

Is love, sweet love (Oh, oh)

No, not just for some (No, not just for some)

Oh, but just (Just)

For (For every)

Everyone (Yeah)

[ Alumni, New Directions, and Will (Mercedes) ]

What the world (Rachel: World!) needs now (What the world needs is love)

Is love,

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will (Mercedes) ]

Sweet love (Oh, oh)

It's the only thing (Oo, oo, oo)

That there's just (Just)

[ Rachel with Mercedes, Alumni, New Directions, and Will (Mercedes) ]

Too little of (Yeah)

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will (Mercedes) ]

What the world needs now (What the world needs now)

Is love, sweet love (Is sweet love)

No, not just for some (Woah)

Oh, but just (Just)

For (For)

Every (Every)

[ Rachel with Alumni, New Directions, and Will ]

Everyone (Alumni, New Directions, and Will: Everyone)

After the song finished, everyone came together in a group hug.

When they finally broke apart, Mr. Schue addressed the group, "Emma and I would like to invite all of you to our apartment Sunday afternoon for an engagement party for Santana and Brittany. I may not be at the school anymore, but much like the alumni, I'll always be a part of the family, and it is my honor to help celebrate your engagement with you."

"Thank you so much Mr. Schue," Brittany said smiling hugging him. Santana also smiled and said, "thank you."

# # # # #

Author's Endnotes: There you have it, the new New Directions are starting to bond as a team and Kitty is slowly embracing what it means to be a leader to them thanks to Mercedes and Artie. Next up is the engagement party that the episode only gave us a few snippets of, followed by three chapters from Transitioning, concluding with the return of Mr Schue to the fold after he's finally had enough of the cruelty and homophobia of Clint and Vocal Adrenaline.

Sorry this has taken so long to updated but I'm trying to stay ahead and the engagement party chapter is proving to be more complex than I originally thought.

Please continue to review and favorite the story if you like what you're read. I'd also like to know what you all think of the changes I made in the text revisions. People have been kinda quiet about that.


	9. The Engagement Party (6x06)

The Wildebrams Season Six

Chapter 09 - The Engagement Party (6x06)

By Wilde Abrams

== Early Sunday Afternoon, Kitty's Car

Kitty Wilde exhaled deeply as she sat in her car outside of the home of her former Glee Club director Will Schuester, and his germophobe guidance counselor wife Emma.

Following Sunday dinner Kitty had gotten dressed up and driven there. She, along with the other New Directions members, Alumni, and assorted others had been invited to the Schuester's condo for an engagement party for Brittany and Santana.

For some reason she was feeling nervous about the whole thing, but she wasn't sure why. This was the first time she was invited to socialize with a teacher, even if one was a former one, or teachers who weren't really teachers, outside of a school function. Could that be it? No. It was her first time socializing with the new glee kids outside of school. Could that be it? Definitely not. It would be her first interaction with some of the alumni who had abandoned the other New Directions members and her. No, that wasn't it either.

Then it occurred to her. It was her first extended socialization with her ex, Artie, outside of school and without a specific purpose. Yes. That was what was making her nervous. What would they talk about that would keep her mind off of the past and the despair caused by their breakup.

She sighed and resolved to spend as much time as possible chatting with other people.

She got out of her car and began walking towards the door.

== Early Sunday Afternoon, Schuester Condo

The party was just beginning. Several of the alumni were present and Will and Emma were set up at the door to welcome their guests. Emma was off to the side holding their six months old son Danny in her arms.

When Kitty arrived she was greeted warmly with a hug by her former teacher. She reluctantly returned the hug with a smile. It wasn't creepy at all, she thought sarcastically.

"I'm glad you could make if, Kitty," he told her warmly. "I hope that you didn't have a problem finding it."

"Not at all," she told him. "It's not that hard to find and Google Maps is my friend." She smiled. Her smile fell when she realized that was something she learned from Artie. Glancing around she noticed that he didn't seem to have arrived yet. Nor had the guests of honor. She decided to find someone to talk to before he got there to minimize any contact. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ms. Pillsbury - correction: Mrs. Schuester - quieting the infant in her arms.

"Well, hello there!" Kitty greeted the infant, lapsing into baby talk, tickling the child's cheek.

"Nice to see you again," Mrs. Schuester greeted her student. Emma was still the guidance counselor at McKinley, but hadn't talked to Kitty in about a year. "I'd like you to meet our son, Daniel Finn Schuester."

Kitty met her gaze and smiled. "He's adorable." The child cooed as she tickle his chin and Kitty beamed.

After noticing that both the Schuester's looking at her with surprise, Kitty's smile disappeared.

"Thanks for inviting me," she told the hosts. "If you'll excuse me I have to talk to Mercedes about something."

They noded and she headed off to rescue Mercedes who was fidgeting very uncomfortably, talking to Sam.

"Hey, Mercedes," Kitty greeted the older woman with a smile.

Mercedes took the offered out and excused herself from the uncomfortable conversation, "Excuse me, Sam," she told him. "There's something I need to talk to Kitty about."

"Okay," he said reluctantly and wandered off.

"Thank you!" She told the younger girl, putting her arm around her shoulder.

"You looked like you were a little uncomfortable," Kitty ventured.

"You have no idea," Mercedes told her.

"I guess we both have exes we are trying to avoid," Kitty ventured.

"I guess so," Mercedes said with more than a little surprise in her voice.

"I'm sorry I came off so strongly the other day," Kitty offeed. "I was just so scared of something happening to endanger the new New Directions. I never quite realized that it meant so much to me until it was gone. I forgot for a while, but now that it's back I'm going to do anything I can to keep anything from happen to it again."

"I completely understand," Mercedes told her. "That's another reason why I you're the captain, your fierce protectiveness."

Kitty noded. "So what exactly is going on with you and Sam?" she asked, taking the subject of the conversation off herself.

"Well," Mercedes signed and began. "Sam and I have had something going on between us since the end of my junior year. It started off kind of slowly, but came to a header at Nationals - the first one, the one we lost - we had a summer fling, but I ended it when he had to move out of state to Kentucky because his parents finally got jobs after his dad was laid off."

Kitty noded as Mercedes continued. She had more or less picked up on that part already.

"I moved on, but apparently he never really did. When he came back to help us win sectionals a few months into my senior year, I was dating someone else and he kept pursuing me until I finally cheated on my boyfriend Shayne with him."

Kitty reacted with shock and Mercedes averted her eyes. "I've never been so ashamed of myself. Shane was a sweetheart who deserved better, and I told Sam that I needed to be by myself."

After a few awkward moments, she continued, "After a while we did get back together, but it didn't last. When I graduated and he didn't, I moved to LA to pursue my music career, and we broke up again.

"I stayed single and he dated Brittany for most of a year." Kitty noded, she had been in glee club with them at the time. "After he graduated and we were both living together in New York, we got closer and back together, but after a few months it became apparent that we had different values. My Christian beliefs are very important to me, and I'm a virgin saving myself for marriage."

Kitty noded. Mercedes' commitment to living her faith was something that Kitty had always admired about her.

"Sam admitted that he wasn't. The previous year he'd worked as a stripper for a few months to support his family and had given up his virginity then. I understood, and he claimed to respect my choice and went through the motions, but when I told him that I probably wouldn't be ready to get married until I was 30, I could see in his eyes that he was disappointed.

"He claimed to be okay with it, but when a photographer threw himself at him he almost cheated on me. I knew then that he wasn't going to be able to last that long, and was afraid that he'd grow to resent me, so I broke up with him again, but told him that if I changed my mind I'd look him up.

"Well I've been dating Michael, a Christian singer who shares my views on sexual purity, for about four months, and I'm nowhere near changing my mind. But Sam has been pursuing me again since I got back to Lima. I know things haven't changed for him because literally the first words out of his mouth Homecoming week where, 'are you still a virgin?' I think that he believes that if he's persistent enough that I'll break up with Michael for him, like I did with Shane, but that isn't going to happen."

"Wait," Kitty interrupted, "isn't he dating Rachel now?"

"Yes," Mercedes answered. "With my blessing. I'm hoping that he is going to help heal Rachel's heart and he will finally get over me, because I honestly can't see myself getting back with him. I'm quite happy with Michael."

"I see," Kitty said. What was it with these glee club alumni, jumping from one relationship to another almost all within the club? It seemed kind of incestuous. For all the crap she gave the Mason and Madison McCarthy 'Incest Twins' she knew they weren't really dating eachother. And she hadn't realized that Sam was such a player, but then again, she remembered that she was one of the few girls in the glee club he hadn't kissed. She wondered if Rachel knee he was still pursuing Mercedes.

Their conversation was cut off when Mr. Schue called everyone together for a toast to the happy couple. During her conversation with Mercedes, Kitty hadn't noticed that several more people had arrived, including Brittany, Santana, Kurt, Blaine, and Artie, who had been talking to Sam and Rachel who were seated on the couch.

Kitty ended up across the table from Artist when she collected a glass of sparkling cider for the toast, but avoided looking at him.

== Early Sunday Afternoon, Schuester Condo

Artie sat nervously waiting for Mr or Mrs. Schuster to open the door. He had been very nervous about attending the engagement party ever since he'd learned about it. It was the first completely social event that he'd attended with his ex Kitty since he'd been back. They'd had their one on one chat where he'd begun to see how badly he'd hurt her, and the brief wedding planning meeting a few days later at The Lima Bean. But this was completely social, and their mutual friends would be there. He knew that he'd really screwed things up between them, and was sorry about it. But he could tell that she hadn't forgiven him yet. If she decided to make a scene, it could be very embarrassing for him.

After a brief greeting from their hosts, and smiling at his late friend's namesake, he surveyed the room.

"Kitty's sitting over there with Mercedes," Mr. Schue offered, gesturing to where the two women were standing off to the side.

"That's okay," he offered. "I actually have to catch up with Sam first." Mr. Schue gave him a confused look as he rolled over to where Sam and Rachel were sitting on the couch chatting.

"Hey Sam," he asked, rolling over next to his two friends, "how's the team going?"

"Pretty good, actually," Sam answered, launching off into a detailed analysis of the football team, it's dynamics, and his assessment of their chances of winning this season.

Artie tried to follow along with what his friend was saying. He had acquired a decent understanding of the game during his year on the team, but he really wasn't that interested in the details. His mind began to wander, and he keep catching himself glancing over at Kitty and Mercedes.

Rachel feigned interest in what her boyfriend - was he her boyfriend? - and Artie were talking about, but she was really paying attention to Artie, and couldn't help but notice that he kept glancing over at his ex who was sitting next to Mercedes. She also noticed Kitty stealing glances at Artie during her conversation with Mercedes. It was so obvious, even Stevie Wonder would be able to tell that there was still something going on between the two of them. They obviously still liked each other.

"You still loves her don't you?" She asked him, interrupting Sam's explanation of the new strategies he'd come up with for the team, now that he was Acting Head Coach.

"Of course," Artie responded. "But, unfortunately I think that ship has sailed." He didn't really believe that. He just didn't feel like talking about it.

"She still cares about you Artie," Rachel told him.

"I know," he responded, "but I've hurt her pretty badly and I'm not sure how I can fix it."

"She's just really hurting" Rachel reassured him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She's gonna need time."

"I realize that," Artie told her. "Once I realized that I still had feelings for her at Homecoming, I decided to stay away for a couple weeks before coming back and trying to talk to her again."

Rachel noded

"I know I initiated it," he continued, "but I think this was the hardest breakup for me, even worse than Britney, and that was pretty painful."

"That's because I think deep down inside even you knew that wasn't going to last," Sam chimed in. "Brittany and Santana were destined to be together, and I think we all knew that once Santana came to terms with her feelings, it was all over for anyone else who was interested in either one of them. I went through the same thing when I was with her."

Just then Mr. Schue called everyone together for a toast.

# # # # #

They all gathered around the table and shared a toast to the happy couple. Kitty was right across the table from Artie, but the they both avoided looking at each other.

Following the toast, Artie approached the happy couple alone and offered his congratulations.

Brittany, and Surprisingly Santana, each gave him a hug. That was unexpected, as Santana and he had never been close, and she'd been downright mean to him when he'd been dating Brittany.

The three of them delved into small talk about the wedding planning but after Santana caught him glancing over toward where Kitty and Mercedes were sitting, she changed the subject.

"She still cares about you too," Santana offered.

"What?" He asked, bringing his attention back to the conversation.

"Kitty," Brittany answered for her fiance. "She still loves you."

"How can you tell?" he asked

"Well for one," Santana told him. "With the way she ripped you a new one that day on the football field. She has to still care or else she wouldn't have bothered.

"Look, I know you and I have had our differences; and even outside of that have never been close; and God knows that I didn't like her very much when I first met her after the say she treated my girl Marley; but she matured that year and any fool could see that the two of you made eachother happy. I never understood why you broke up with her after you went to all of that effort and managed to thaw The Ice Queen's heart."

"I broke up with her because I saw moving to New York as a fresh new start, and every single long distance post High School Glee Club romance fell apart," he told her. "Including yours."

"The biggest mistake that I ever made was breaking up with my Britts here," Santana told him, hugging her fierce close.

"Well I regret it now," he told her, "But at the time, it made sense. I never stopped having feelings for her, but now it may be too late."

"If it's meant to be then it's never too late," Santana told him. "Look at me and Brittany? It took almost two years but we are back together and engaged."

"Why don't you bring her a piece of pie?" Brittany offered, gesturing toward the buffet of snacks. "Everything goes better with Pie."

He nodded, thanking them, and grabbed two pieces of pie from the table and rolled over to where Kitty and Mercedes were sitting in two chairs.

# # # # #

After the toast Kitty came over and sat in a chair next to Mercedes, still trying to avoid talking to her ex who was now chatting in the corner with the guests of honor.

"What about you and Artie," Mercedes asked. "What's your story? I don't think anyone was surprised when you two finally got together, and we were all shocked when you broke up."

"There's not much to say," Kitty said with a shrug. "I was expecting to be in a long distance relationship with him when he graduated and was completely shocked when he unexpectedly broke up with me because he wanted a fresh state in New York.

"It was very painful and I was very bitter about it for a long time, and after a year I thought I had finally gotten over it and him. But then he came back during Homecoming Week and everything came back in a flood. He's apologized and I accepted his apology, but it still hurts and I know he wants to get back together with me, but I just can't," she finished.

"Artie's my friend, but you need to guard you heart girl." She put her hand on Kitty's shoulder in support and Kitty noded.

"That's what I've been trying to do, but it's hard," Kitty told the older woman. "It would have been a whole lot easier if all of you hadn't come back."

"True," Mercedes said, "but I see how you were when we got here and how you have opened yourself back up to joy, as that quote from Mrs. Adler says. Guarding your heart doesn't necessarily mean closing yourself off completely. It just means being careful who you trust your inner thoughts and feelings to. I love Artie like a brother, but it sounds to me like he's for a lot of work to do to earn your trust back."

Kitty noded.

"Speak of the devil," Mercedes added, gesturing over her shoulder where she saw Artie approaching with two plates of pie.

Kitty put a forced smile on her face and resolved to take Mercedes' advice and make the best of the situation.

Artie rolled up next to Kitty and offered her a piece of pie, which she smiled and accepted with a simple "Thank you."

Kitty and Artie clinked the two plates together in a sort of toast. Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw Mercedes start a conversation with Kurt across the table, and effectively gave Kitty and Artie a little privacy while staying close in case she needed any support. Kitty silently thanked her for it.

"How have you been, Kitty," Artie began. "how have your classes been going?"

After the last week Kitty was pleasantly surprised by his choice of neutral topics.

"Good," she began, "I'm still on the Honor Roll and on track to graduate on time this spring."

"That's great," he told her. "I'm glad."

"The Cheerios won nationals again last year under my leadership," she added. "so I have a decent shot at a cheerleading scholarship if I decide I want one."

"That's great," Artie told her with a big smile, "I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks," she told him. "How about you? How is college going?"

"It's been going great!" He told her. "I'm also on the Dean's List and doing quite well in my classes. One of my films, Bags In The Wind was in a film festival back in April, and my professors were all quite impressed with it. My over the summer independent project also went well and I'm expecting my first short film this fall to get high marks too. I actually just turned that in before coming back here again."

"That's real Artie," she told him, "I'm so proud of you, and glad that you decided to go to film school after all. I've always known you were very talented, ever since I saw that video you put together of footage from your Glee Club Nationals win two years ago, and you directed us in Grease sophomore year."

"Thanks," he told her sheepishly. "I'm glad I did too. So have you applied to any colleges yet?"

"Yeah," she told him, "I put applications in with UCLA, The University of Louisville, Ohio State, Columbia, NYU, and a few others."

"Have you considered NYADA or Juliard?" He asked, "With your abilities you would have a decent chance of getting into one of them."

She shook her head. "I like performing, Artie, but it's just a hobby for me. I want a college degree that can help me actually get a job I can make a living at."

He nodded. "That makes sense."

The rest of the afternoon Artie and Kitty chatted with each other and their friends about their various work and college lives and silently agreed to avoid the topic of their relationship for the time being. There would be plenty of time for that later.

== Sunday Afternoon, Wilde Home

When Kitty got home that evening her parents asked her if she'd had a good time and she responded, "Yeah, I really did! It was great too see everyone again!" And she meant it.

As she lay in bed that night Kitty began to think that maybe, I just maybe she could find a way to be friends with Artie after all... and maybe someday, something more again…

# # # # #

Author's Endnotes; I'm sorry for taking so long to update this, but believe it or not this has been one of the most difficult chapters for me to write in the story. It's very important to the plot arc that I want to have, and it need to be just right. Hopefully I've succeeded at that.

Next up we will have two or three chapters dedicated to what happened during the episode Transitioning. Kitty and Artie continue to play this odd dancing game, and you'll finally get to see the song that they were supposed to sing at Rachel's party, but for some reason RIB chose not to show us, along with the other missing duets.

Stay Tuned!


	10. Get It Right (6x07 - Transitioning)

Wildebrams Season Six

Chapter 10: Get It Right (Transitioning)

By Wilde Abrams

== Early Monday Morning, WMHS Astronomy Classroom

Kitty strode down the halls of William McKinley high school towards a very notable room for her and inwardly groaned.

An hour ago Kitty had received a mass text message from Sam Evans, asking the other recipients and her to meet him in the Astronomy classroom during third period. Fortunately Kitty had study hall third period so she was able to safely skip that, and after a brief stop at her locker she headed to that all familiar room.

For a brief moment, Kitty considered the possibility that God was playing a cruel joke on her. Ever since she's allowed herself to be recruited back into Glee she's been forced to be close to things that reminded her of her former boyfriend Artie. The room that she was summoned to was the room where they had shared their first kiss, and had multiple meetings and make out sessions in when they were dating; and they'd had a heart to heart conversation about their breakup and current relationship their a week ago. It had barely changed in the last two years, and a whole flood of memories and emotions overcame her. She struggled to suppress them.

The previous afternoon she had attended engagement party for Santana and Brittany at her former teacher Mr. schue's home. Kitty was cautiously optimistic about the future and believed that she was eventually going to be able to become friends with Artie again in time. She had been very briefly reassured that Artie was really going to give her the time that she needed to get over her heartache from their break up and gradually become friends again. But unfortunately that had been short-lived. she was now beginning to have serious doubts as to whether he was really going to give her the time that she needed.

Every since she gone home from the event, the two of them had been texting back-and-forth; and it was becoming increasingly apparent that he still wanted to get back together with her and wasn't as patient as she had hoped he would be.

She put those thoughts on hold as she strode into the room and said, "This has better be important! I was planning to use this time-"

It was then that she noticed who else was in the room directly in front of her:

Artie.

Smiling at her.

She stopped mid sentence and took in the rest of the room. Artie and Mercedes were seated directly in front of her. Kurt and Blaine were also present, and Sam stood up front ready to address the group. She quickly took a seat, but elected not to sit next to Artie, a decision that seemed to surprise him.

"Hey, guys," Sam began, addressing the group. "Hey. Thanks for coming."

Still stammering. Sam had never really seemed that comfortable when placed in any sort of leadership position. It always came off forced to her.

"Oh, for the love of all that's sacred, what now?" Kitty asked, in an irritated tone.

"Uh, well," he continued, " I called you here today because of Rachel."

"Seriously?" Mercedes asked in disbelief, "I just finished mentoring that girl for, like, a week what could she possibly need now?"

"- Do you want to? -" Blaine began but was interrupted.

"- Her dad just sold their house," Kurt explained. "She has less than a week to get out. That house means everything to her. It's where she grew up. It's where she saw her dreams become a reality."

Kitty noded.

"Guys," Sam added, "this is a major moment for her. Okay? She's becoming a new person. Making one of the biggest transitions of all. One that we are all gonna have to make soon."

"Okay, just so we're clear," Kitty asked in her usual snarky tone, "We're still talking about Rachel, right?... Or are you announcing your new gender?"

She'd heard that Coach Bieste was supposed to be returning to McKinley today following her sex change operation. She wasn't sure what to think about that, but the whole school was buzzing about it thanks to Principal Sylvester.

"Oh, my God! No!" Sam reacted in disgust. "This is all about Rachel! Look, guys, she's growing up. We all are."

"So, what's the plan, Sam?" Artie asked.

Then Sam and Kurt looked shared a look and filled them in.

== Monday Afternoon, Glee Classroom, WMHS

"Okay, you guys," Rachel addressed the group, "let's get started on this week's lesson. It is called buckeye bull's-eye, featuring all artists from Ohio! Marilyn Manson and Dean Martin-"

Several students smiled at this.

"Actually, Rachel," Kurt interrupted, "there has been a slight change in plans."

"Kurt, you can't just change the lesson like that," Rachel told him.

"Well," Kurt responded, "sometimes life throws you a curveball, and you just gotta embrace it."

Then he turned and addressed the group, "That's why this week's lesson is … Transitioning.

He slid the whiteboard aside revealing the new lesson name.

"Changing. Charging forward."

Several students look at each other confused.

Kitty shoved aside her momentary disappointment about the fact that they were hijacking the Lesson the week that she might actually be able to sing Tainted Love or Beautiful People in Glee Club. Hopefully they would just be able to postpone it until next week.

"Rachel," Kurt continued. "It's come to our attention that you have some challenges with saying goodbye to your childhood home.

"Which is forcing you to say goodbye to your childhood and fully accept adulthood," Blaine added. "Or at least that's according to the very nice lady at the lima mental health clinic."

Sam and Blaine guided a very irritated Rachel into a chair, and sliding it across the floor to sit with the students.

"So to help Rachel with this new transition," Sam added, addressing the students, "we are throwing her a "farewell to Rachel's house" party, and everyone's invited."

Rachel finally smiled and gave in, sharing a look with Kitty and then Sam.

"It's going to be Friday night in Rachel's basement," he finished.

"You guys," Rachel told them, "this is very unnecessary but very sweet."

"Wait," Madison asked in disbelief, "so this lesson isn't - for us?"

"- It's for Rachel?" Mason finished for her.

"Yeah, so shut up," Kitty told them, and looked at Artie.

"Fetch me my wheel!" Artie said, wheeling up in front of the group.

Sam and Blaine walked off to the side of the room and wheeled over a giant multicolored carnival wheel painted different colors with the names of all of the glee students and alumni written on it.

"Thank you," Artie told them, and then he addressed the group again. "Welcome to wheel of musical fortune! (Applause) Thank you. Thank you. Everyone spins, and whoever's name you land on, you have to sing a duet with them at the party."

"All except for me," Sam reminded him. " 'Cause I told you I want to sing with Rachel. I don't want to chance it.'

"Fine," Artie responded, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Whatever."

"Can't we just pick names out of a hat?" Spencer asked.

Artie gave him an annoyed look, "Picking names out of a hat is so 2009..."

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Mercedes broke it and said, "Okay, I'll go first."

She stood up, said, "Luck be a lady tonight!" And spun the wheel.

Several people whooped before the wheel came to a stop. "Roderick!" She read. Then she looked over at the group and asked, "Which-which one? …"

"Uh, me," Roderick said sheepishly. "I'm-I'm Roderick."

"No, this is gonna be great," She told him confidently, "You're great!" She high walked over and sat next to him high-fiving him. "In fact I think I have the perfect song."

"Okay, my turn!" Kurt said as the group applauded.

He sprang over and spun the wheel which almost landed on Artie, but ended up on Blaine.

"Oh," Kurt said, obviously trying to play it cool. "Huh…"

'That thing was so rigged' Kitty thought to herself, but remained silent as the other people took their turns spinning the wheel.

Mason spun the wheel and landed on Jane. Both of them smiled sheepishly. Kitty had a hunch that there was something going on between the two of them.

Madison spun the wheel and landed on Spencer who just looked annoyed.

"My turn," Artie said. "But since everyone else is taken, that just leaves KITTY!"

He seemed particularly pleased, while she mumbled 'of course' under her breath in an annoyed tone. She had her sinking suspicion that the wheel had been a setup confirmed, but kept it to herself.

Everyone broke up and went off into corners with their partners to discuss their song choices for the rest of the hour.

Kitty sat off to the side with Artie discussing their schedules for the rest of the week. She glanced over to where Kurt and Blaine sat, pretending not to feel awkward. She overheard Blaine ask Kurt not to mention their duet to his loser boyfriend Karofsky. She smirked inwardly. Those two were so getting back together!

== Tuesday Morning, Artie's Bedroom, Lima Ohio

Artie was just finishing getting dressed when he decided to quickly check his email before heading out to begin another day of helping Rachel and Kurt with the new Glee Club.

So far things were going well, if a bit slowly in his other reason for being in Lima: Winning back the heart of the love of his life. He knew he was going to have to pick up the pace, because he didn't know how much longer he could convince his professors to let him keep missing class.

He had a big smile on his face when as he pulled out his laptop and signed into his email. He saw an email marked 'Urgent' and clicked on it. But when he saw what it said he saw what it said, the smile disappeared from his face.

"Crap!" He mumbled under his breath

== Tuesday Morning, WMHS Choir Room

Kitty sat next to Artie and Spencer in the front row apprehensively as they waited for the others to arrive for their morning rehearsal. Over the past few days she had been spending a lot of time talking and texting with Artie, and despite their chat the week before, two things had become painfully apparent. That he was intent on winning her back, and that he still didn't understand how deeply he had hurt her. She'd come up with a way that she hoped he would finally understand.

Rachel and Kurt entered the classroom along with Sam who took a seat with the students as the two 'teachers' addressed the group.

"As we explained a couple weeks ago," Kurt began, "with the old New Directions, traditionally each week the director chose a theme and assigned the students to perform a song based upon that theme by the end of the week. But we also had the tradition that students were invited to work on their own projects outside of those themes and perform them for the group when they were comfortable."

"With that in mind," Rachel continued, "before we get back to this week's getting ready for the party theme, Kitty has asked to share something. Kitty?"

Rachel and Kurt stepped aside and Kitty slowly rose to her feet and took her place in the center of the room. Glancing around she saw some confused expressions on the faces of her fellow Glee Club members and the present alumni, especially Artie who had no idea this was going to happen in spite of the fact that they had been talking quite a bit lately.

She put on a brave face and addressed the group, "This song is going to help me get out some feelings that I'm having a hard time expressing any other way." Glancing at Artie the look on his face told her that he was beginning to see what was about to happen.

"Oh, no… " he mumbled.

She glanced over at Brad, the piano player, whom they had finally managed to get back, and the opening chords of Phil Collins' Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) began to fill the room.

[ Kitty: ]

How can I just let you walk away,

just let you leave without a trace

When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh

You're the only one who really knew me at all

How can you just walk away from me,

when all I can do is watch you leave

'cause we've shared the laughter and the pain,

and even shared the tears

You're the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now,

Well, there's just an empty space

And there's nothing left here to remind me,

just the memory of your face

Oh, take a look at me now,

Well, there's just an empty space

And you coming back to me

is against the odds and that's what I've got to face

I wish I could just make you turn around,

turn around and see me cry

There's so much I need to say to you,

so many reasons why

You're the only one who really knew me at all

Oh, so take a look at me now,

Well, there's just an empty space

And there's nothing left here to remind me,

just the memory of your face

Now take a look at me now,

'cos there's just an empty space, oh

But to wait for you,

is all I can do and that's what I've got to face

Take a good look at me now,

'cause I'll still be standing here

And you coming back to me is against all odds

It's the chance I've got to take

Take a look at me now (Oh, woah)

Take a look at me now

Oh, hmm

At the beginning of the song she was singing to the group while making occasional glances at Artie. But as the song progressed she began looking at him more and more, and by the end she was singing directly to him.

When the song was over Kitty barely kept her composure as she excused herself from the room; and Spencer gave Artie a dirty glare, and he felt about two inches high. Rachel followed Kitty out and Kurt just stood there, uncertain of what to do next as the new newbies looked to him for direction.

== Monday Morning, WMHS Girls Bathroom

Kitty burst into the bathroom, and barely made it into the largest stall - the handicapped stall - and locked the door before she leaned against the wall and sank to the ground before she succumbed to tears.

A few moments later Rachel entered the room and it didn't take long for her to track the sound of crying to the handicapped stall in the back of the bathroom. Fortunately classes were in session, so they were alone.

"Kitty...?" She asked tentatively.

"What?" Kitty asked back through the sobs and tears.

"Can we talk?"

"Talk about what?" The younger girl asked bitterly. "About how the coldest meanest bitch in McKinley High, just embarrassed herself crying over a stupid guy?"

"He's not a stupid guy," Rachel assured her. "He's the guy that you're obviously still in love with."

Rachel open her mouth again, but fought the urge to try to comfort her and tell the younger girl that she hadn't embarrassed herself, because they both knew that she had.

"But I shouldn't be!" She said bitterly. "He left me here all alone and moved on with his life, new school, new friends, other girls... I thought I was over him finally. I thought that I could finally move on with my life, but then he comes back and now he wants to pick up where we left off!"

"Kitty, can you open the door so we can talk?" Rachel asked.

Kitty slowly reached over and undid the latch without getting up, and Rachel entered and sat down next to her.

"I don't know what to do, Rachel." Kitty began again. "I really thought I was over him. But when I saw him again that day on the football field a whole wave of emotion hit me like a ton of bricks.

"I try to remain strong and cold, but deep down inside..."

Kitty wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Deep down you're still a girl who feels things very deeply," Rachel finished for her.

Kitty noded.

"You have no idea how hard it was for me regain my composure that day. All I could really do was go on the offensive like I usually do when I'm challenged, and hope for the best."

"She didn't say so at the time, but deep down I think Santana was secretly impressed," Rachel interjected.

Both girls stifled a laugh and then shared a few moments of silence before Kitty continued.

"When you recruited me back into glee, I know I knew it wasn't going to be easy being around him and things that reminded me of our past, but it's been so much harder than I thought it would be! I've tried to be strong, but I don't know that it would be this hard and I'm not sure how much longer I can do this, be around him every day."

She sniffled and wiped away a couple more tears before continuing.

"He seemed genuinely surprised that I was so upset," Kitty continued. "I just don't understand how he could not understand how hurt I was!"

"Kitty," Rachel began, "as I'm sure you've heard, I'm no stranger to drama and heartache. Some of it, in retrospect, I think I brought on myself; other times it was just the way things turned out. Back in high school, when there was glee club relationship drama, nine times out of ten I was involved somehow."

Both girls shared a small grin.

"Finn and I broke up and got back together more times than I can count. The Finn, Quinn, Rachel love triangle is still legendary around here from what I understand. We each did some very hurtful things to each other.

"But when it's all said and done, all that matters is that Finn and I loved each other very much, and Quinn and I made out peace years ago, as did Finn and Quinn."

She paused for a moment letting it sink in.

"Finn and I were broken up when he died," she continued, "but we knew that we loved each other and would eventually be getting back together. The last time I saw him, and one of the last time we talked, he told me that we were 'endgame'. At the time I was dating someone else and I didn't acknowledge it, at least not directly. But inside I knew he was right.

"We both thought we had all the time in the world to figure it out." Tears began to well in their eyes as they both remembered how wrong that was. Only a few weeks later Finn was dead. "We always get caught up in this petty day to day drama. But in the long run none of that really matters. What matters is how we feel about each other here." Rachel put the palm of her hand over her heart.

Rachel turned to face Kitty and looked in her eye. "I don't know for sure how you feel about Artie deep down. Only you can figure that out for yourself. But from what I can tell your feelings are deeper than maybe you want to believe. I think that what you need to do is do some deep soul searching and figure it out, because life's too short to dwell on the short term stuff.

"I've known Artie for almost seven years now. He's got his faults, but he is a really good guy, and I can tell you this: none of those other relationships made him as happy as you did. I know I was in New York obsessed with the chance to play Fanny Brice on Broadway, but I still kept in touch with my friends back at McKinley, so while I never really talked to you, I was aware of your relationship."

Kitty was surprised to hear this. She'd always assumed that Rachel had completely left her old life behind when she'd gone to New York.

"I can't tell you what to do here," Rachel continued. "What I can tell you this. Finn gave me the chance to get back together that day at Mr. Schue's almost wedding, and there hasn't been a day since he passed away that I haven't regretted not doing it. I would give ANYTHING, every every experience, every success, even playing Fanny, to spend five more minutes in Finn's arms, and to hear him tell me that he love me one more time."

Both girls had tears in their eyes again.

"It's too late for that now," Rachel finished. "I would hate for you to end up with the same regrets because it really hurts, and it's something I'm going to have to live with the rest of my life."

Rachel drew Kitty into an embrace. "Thank you," the younger woman whispered.

== Monday Afternoon, WMHS Choir Room

Artie wheeled nervously into the choir room and saw Kitty sitting next to Spencer, but elected not to sit next to her. He could feel the tension in the room after that morning's performance. While Kitty had not specifically said her song was about him, her body language had made it clear that it was; and, while it may have been his imagination, it felt like everyone was watching him giving him dagger eyes.

He'd skipped lunch today preparing what he hoped would be an appropriate musical response.

After Kurt announced that Alumni mentor Artie also had something to share, he cautiously wheeled himself up to the front and addressed the group.

"Apologies to the author of this piece," he glanced at Rachel, "but I think this song best expresses what I'm thinking and how I'm feeling."

He nodded to the band and Rachel's original song "Get It Right" began to play.

[ Artie: ]

What have I done?

I wish I could run

Away from this ship going under

Just trying to help

Hurt everyone else

Now I feel the weight of the world

Is on my shoulders

What can you do when your good isn't good enough,

And all that you touch, tumbles down?

'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things

I just wanna fix it somehow

But how many times will it take

Oh, how many times will it take for me

To get it right

To get it right

Can I start again

With my faith shaken

('Cause I can't go back and undo this)

I just have to stay

And face my mistakes

(But if I get stronger and wiser)

I'll get through this

What can you do when your good isn't good enough,

And all that you touch, tumbles down?

'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things

I just wanna fix it somehow

But how many times will it take?

Oh, how many times will it take for me?

To get it right

So I throw up my fist

Throw a punch in the air

And accept the truth

That sometimes life isn't fair

Yeah, I'll send out a wish

Yeah, I'll send up a prayer

And finally someone will see

How much I care

What can you do when your good isn't good enough

All that you touch, tumbles down

Oh, my best intentions

Keep making a mess of things

I just wanna fix it somehow

But how many times will it take?

Oh, how many times will it take?

To get it right

To get it right

As he finished the song, Artie looked over at Kitty, who now had noticeable streams of tears running down her cheeks. When she noticed that Artie and everyone else were looking at her she rose to her feet and sprang out of the room again.

Artie was about to go after her when he heard Rachel say, "Let her go. She needs the chance to compose herself before she's ready to talk."

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Were the old New Directions this dramatic?" Jane asked.

"Worse," Sam, Rachel, and Kurt all said at once.

"Remind me to tell you about Rumours week sometime," Sam told her.

== Tuesday After School, WMHS Auditorium

Artie sat at the piano looking through some sheet music when Kitty walked in.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"Hey," she responded sadly.

"I'm glad you didn't forget or decide to blow off our rehearsal," he told her.

"This is about helping Rachel, which is more important than than anything going on between us," she told him. "If that means singing a duet with you, then I am going to do it no matter how uncomfortable it makes me, even knowing the wheel was probably fixed."

"Kitty," he told her, "of course it was fixed. It was fixed for everyone. But I don't understand why it would be difficult for you to sing with me ... or why you felt the need to embarrassed me with that song this morning."

"The fact that you apparently weren't paying that close of attention in our talk last week and still don't understand how much you hurt me is exactly why I sang that song! Artie, this isn't something that you can just apologize for and I'll immediately forgive you! I was devastated after our break up! For MONTHS! There is only one other event in my life that hurt me as deeply, and i'm not sure I ever really got over that either. I just buried it deep inside and tried to forget about it."

Artie, of course knew she was talking about being molested by her friends brother when she was in 6th grade. He was speechless until she continued several moments later.

"And for the last week you've been making it abundantly clear that you want to get back together with me, and I'm not even in a place where I can even completely forgive you yet, let alone actually consider getting back together. The fact that you haven't stopped to think about that makes me feel like you don't respect my feelings. How could I even remotely consider getting into a relationship with someone who doesn't respect my feelings?"

"I don't know what to say," he told her sheepishly. And he really didn't. It was like he was hearing this for the first time.

"And then on top of that," she added, "You try to blame the whole mess on me with your own song! How do you think it made me feel to hear you sing a song telling everyone that your whole life is falling apart because I won't forgive you so easily?"

"The song wasn't only about you," he responded.

She got a confused look on her face. That thought hadn't even occurred to her.

He signed and continued, "This morning I got an email from my professor at the Brooklyn Film Academy. I was in such a hurry to respond to Rachel's call for help and come back here to help out and fix things with you, I guess I was so overconfident in the short film I was finishing that I didn't spend enough time polishing it before turning it in. He wasn't impressed..."

Kitty just sat there dumbfounded for a few moments before she responded.

"Let me get this straight," she began, "after all the work we did to get you into film school, and all the work your mom and I did to get you to actually go, you aren't taking it seriously?"

"It's not that bad-"

"Not that bad?" She retorted. "He felt it was important enough to email you about it! After everything that's happened we aren't going to let you blow off your school work and flunk out!"

"I'm not flunking out," he told her. "It's just one project. I just need to meet with him about redoing or fixing it when I get back after the wedding."

"Well if that's all it is," she clarified, "how does it even compare to the mess you made of our relationship?"

He open his mouth to say something and then abruptly closed it again. It didn't. "I'm sorry, I guess I was just in shock and it was a knee-jerk reaction to feeling overwhelmed with everything. You're right, it's not even close to the same thing."

They sat there sharing an uncomfortable silence before she finally broke it. "Look, Artie, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I thought that I was over our breakup and that I had moved on. But your presence has brought out a whole slew of feelings that I thought were gone forever which makes me think that my feelings are deeper and more complicated than I thought.

"I know you want to get back together with me, and I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't a part of me that didn't want that too, but we need to work on becoming friends again, not just decide that we are, before we can even think about a relationship, and the bottom line is that I don't trust you right now, and I need that back first.

"You keep saying that you understand and are going to give me the time that I need, but your actions keep telling me otherwise!"

He sat there stunned. He really had no idea that their relationship was that damaged.

"I see..." was all he could say.

"Like I tried to tell you last week, If you're willing to start with those basics and start rebuilding our relationship from the ground up, then I'd really like that. But if not, I understand. I know that I've thrown a lot at you and you might need some time to think about it-"

"No," he told her. "I don't need time to think about it. Our relationship was the strongest I've ever had, and I know that I majorly screwed it up. But I'm willing to do literally anything I need to fix it, even if it means starting with the basics of trust and friendship because you're worth it!"

Kitty sat there with a confused look still on her face, uncertain about whether he really finally understood or not.

"You said that last week," she reminded him.

"I know," he told her. "But I think I was in denial then, but I'm beginning to understand how much more complicated our respective feelings are … and how much I have hurt you… I'm going to back off and give you all the time that you need… "

Kitty wasn't sure if he finally got it, or if he was still fooling himself. But more than anything she wanted him to understand and finally get it, so she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

"Okay then," she relented. "We should get to work on our duet." She moved closer to be able to see the music he'd been looking at when she walked in.

"Yeah," he said, getting back to business, showing her the sheet music. "I've selected three upbeat songs that fit our voices."

She pulled her own selection from a folder and said, "I had my own ideas as well…"

And with that the two of them got to work setting the previous discussion aside for a moment.

# # # # #

Author's Notes: you know the drill … Please review if you like this and want me to continue. I've never gotten a lot of reviews, but I seem to be getting fewer and fewer and that makes me sad and unmotivated.


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